Suicide by cop is a suicide method in which a suicidal individual deliberately acts in a threatening way, with the goal of provoking a lethal response from a law enforcement officer or other legitimately armed individual, such as being shot to death.
While the phrase is colloquial ("cop" being slang for police officer) and primarily used in the United States media, it has become the most popular name for the phenomenon. Other names include death by cop, suicide-by-police, copicide and blue suicide (a reference to the blue uniforms worn by many police officers). Two more technical terms often used in research are officer- (or police-) assisted suicide and victim-precipitated homicide, though these are much broader and encompass other situations beyond this subject.
Read more about Suicide By Cop: Overview, History, Recognition and Research, Other Notable Examples
Famous quotes containing the words suicide by and/or suicide:
“Unless democracy is to commit suicide by consenting to its own destruction, it will have to find some formidable answer to those who come to it saying: “I demand from you in the name of your principles the rights which I shall deny to you later in the name of my principles.””
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“Unless democracy is to commit suicide by consenting to its own destruction, it will have to find some formidable answer to those who come to it saying: “I demand from you in the name of your principles the rights which I shall deny to you later in the name of my principles.””
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)