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Youth Crimye and Suicides

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CRIME PREVENTION

IN EDUCATIONAL SET-UPS:

STUDENT SUICIDE
IN INDIA

Submitted By: Roll Nos.: 2009SW078 and 2009SW103 Subject: Seminar on Crime Prevention Faculty: Roshni Nair Date: 24 th of September, 2010

INTRODUCTION Origin of the Word: The Etymology of the word Suicide can be traced from Latin suicidium, from sui
caedere, which means to "to kill oneself"

Definitions of Suicide: The act of suicide has been variously defined by various institutions and relevant systems. Suicide in common parlance refers to the act of deliberate killing of oneself. The WHO (1968) defines suicidal act as the injury with varying degree of lethal intent, and that suicide may be defined as a suicidal act with fatal outcome; whereas, suicidal acts with non-fatal outcomes are labeled attempted suicide. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) defines suicide as the intentional ending of life. It further states that a suicide must have the following characteristics: It should bean un-natural death. Desire to die should origin within him/herself. There should be a cause to end Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Attempted Suicide an offence punishable under Sec. 309, as a breach of Art. 21 of the Indian Constitution, that guarantees protection of life and personal liberty. Sec 309 reads thus:
Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such ofence shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both.

GENERAL OVERVIEW: STATISTICS The following facts and figures have been recorded in the various researches and relevant government documents like that of National Crime Records Bureau (2008),
Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of

India, which one needs to keep in mind while formulating various policies and suicide prevention strategies: * * * * * * * More than one hundred thousand lives lost per year (2007) At the rate of 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000 Kerala, A.P. and T.N. >15 Punjab, U.P., Bihar and J&K <3 37.8% below the age of 30 years 71% below the age of 44 years Near equal ratio of young men and women and consistently narrowing male: female ratio of 1.4:1 indicating more women die by suicide than their western counterpart According to these reports the most common means of committing suicide are as follows: * * * Poisoning (36.6%) Hanging (32.1%) Self-immolation (7.9%)

Further, the most frequently cited and regular causes for committing this act are as follows: * * * Unknown (43%) Illness (21.9%) Family Problems (23.8%)

Since suicide as a phenomenon carries a certain social stigma it should not come as a surprise that the causes for a large percentage of these cases remain unknown and unexplored. IDENTIFYING RISK FACTORS With the rapid increase in the number of suicides, it becomes all the more necessary to study and analyze the risk factors involved in suicide ideation and commission. Various attempts have been made by researchers and mental health professionals to identify these risk factors, some of which also focus on the factors that are influencing the behaviors and actions of the younger members of the society, who appear to be at greater risk. According to the WHO Report, psychiatric disorder has been cited as a reason for 98% of 6003 suicides. This indicates that a vital role needs to be played by Mental Health Professionals. According to A.R. Singh, the key factors of suicide are: Social Isolation and Social Disintegration. He suggests a three pronged policy to tackle such a situation that should be introduced for Public Health Programme to reduce/prevent suicides: * Reducing social isolation by reducing social stigma attached to people in need of emotional and psychological help and also those individuals who might express suicide ideation or have been survivors of suicide. * Preventing social disintegration that occurs due to rapid modernization, especially true for India, which has led to sweeping changes in the socioeconomic, socio-philosophical and cultural and traditional value systems, greatly adding to the stress of individuals. The high rate of suicides amongst the youth of India can be substantially associated with the stress of post-liberalization related job security, breakdown of joint family systems and also a sense of widening generation gap due to the sudden flux of ideologies. * Treating mental disorders in an incorporated and holistic fashion is therefore an important lookout.

According to thinkers like him, suicide as an issue must be dealt simultaneously at two levels by the use of an integrated approach: (i) Individual Level- an approach wherein saving life after suicidal attempt must combine psychiatric treatment, including crisis intervention and drug treatment, counselling and sociotherapy. (ii) Societal Level- a collective and conscious attempt to tackle poverty, unemployment, attempt to change value systems; Suicide Prevention/Control must be seen as a Movement. According to another study conducted on suicide amongst college students, the number one student risk factor in the minds of college administrators is alcohol use, and to a certain extent use of other drugs too (Lake and Tribbensee, 2002). Other studies suggest that Suicide Ideation in the college population correlates to High-risk taking behaviors (Barrios et al. 2000) unlike the commonsensical understanding of suicide on the contrary belief that suicides are common occurrences amongst individuals who on most cases choose not to act out their aggression, that is, they direct their aggression toward self rather than inflicting pain or violence on objects and individuals in the external environment. Thus, in most cases suicidal individuals are more prone to high-risk taking behaviors such as rash driving and substance abuse etc. that might also include breaking of accepted societal norms and the codes of the law. STUDENT SUICIDE According to research reported in the national media, suicide is the sixth leading cause of death among 6 to 14 year olds and third leading cause for 15 to 25 year olds (c.f. DNA, Feb. 2010). 95 to 100 people commit suicide in India every day-40% adolescent. Young women in South India-the highest suicides rates in the world (WHO, c.f. NewScientist, April 2004). Nearly 22% of the suicides in India have been among students caused by nonattainment of expectations (WHO/SEARO, 2006). According to a study of Mumbai students conducted in the year 2000, 6 % of were depressed that is 2 per cent more than the students in Boston- and 8 percent of them were suicidal. Today, 10 years

later, researchers say things could be worse reported CNN-IBN. The city of Mumbai was alarmed at the rate of student suicide at the start of the year 2010 when over 20 cases of student suicides were reported in the media within 30 days. In fact, TISS was instituted for the study of the factors causing these suicides and to make necessary recommendations toward making education system stress free. Causes for Student Suicide in India: In order to setup effective crime prevention strategies for student suicide it is essential to understand the different causes of student suicides. While it is difficult to pin down the exact cause of a student suicide, according to studies there are 5 main causes for student suicide. These are the Indian Education System, Parental Pressure, Peer Pressure, Media glorification of previous instances and Mental Health and Depression. The Indian Education System: The Indian Education system is renowned for its emphasis on exams, mugging up, coaching classes basically overburdening the student. Whether its getting admitted into colleges, or passing exams there is constant pressure on the student to perform well. In one of the cases a student wrote in his suicide letter that he would come back to haunt his teachers. Studies show that student suicide rates tend to rise at times right before or after exams and in the week before or after results. Therefore one can identify a clear role of the education system and its emphasis on doing well in student suicides. Parental Pressure: In todays competitive world, parents would like to see their children emerge on the top, not just in their schools but as well be involved in an array of extra-curricular activities. In order to land oneself a good job, the applicant needs to emerge as an all rounder. Therefore parents are continually pushing their children to do well not only in school, but get them involved in sports, some sort of hobby and other areas. The joyful process of growing up is replaced by a childhood burdened by activities important to build a well furnished CV. The student is unable to explore their own

interests and instead forced into activities that will allow them to be worthy candidates of different jobs. Parents tend to over emphasise the need of a child to do well, adding to the stress in their childs life which ultimately they might not be able to handle leading them to take drastic steps like committing suicide. Peer Pressure: Besides doing well at school, keeping your parents satisfied youth have the mammoth task of making sure they fit in. Often times peers will compare marks, discuss the number of revisions done, exchange notes on how much time was spent studying. A few students can't deal with the pressure created by their own peer groups. Many student suicides have also been a result over failed relationships, confused sexual preferences or infatuation wherein a student opts to kill themselves as they have been rejected. Media Glorification of Previous Instances: In the event that a student commits suicide, the media will play out the life and event of that student repeatedly and for a long period of time. Often times this can lead to glorification of the incident or idolisation of the student. Leading other students to look at this act as on that is not only acceptable but also one that can be considered an act of bravery. In 2009 the highest grossing Hindi film was 3 Idiots, this revolved around the pressures on todays youth. While this movie received accolades for presenting the believed truth about our education system today, it was also considered as glorifying the concept of a student committing suicide. Thus it is not easy to clearly outline how much media representation on student suicide is helpful in preventing suicide and at what point does it start glorifying this act. Mental Health and Depression: Many of these factors mentioned above in isolation or in combination with one another might heighten the anxiety of an individual leading to stress disorders and depression as a result of being unable to meet expected standards of performances, either in terms of academic or extra curricular activities or both. According to another

study some teenagers belong to families with high expectations which, when coupled with other factors such as identity confusion, feeling of inferiority, biological changes and low self-esteem, often become too much to handle (Portes et al. 2002). Many other studies on adolescent suicides are explained by the use of the Hopelessness Theory of Depression (Abramson et al, 1998, 2000 c.f. Brandon, 2001) which refers to the process in which an individual takes on to negative cognitive style consisting of a negative tendency to make negative inferences of the causes, consequences and self-implications of stressful life events, thereby contributing to development of symptoms of hopelessness depression that includes suicide ideation. Cluster of Student Suicides: The implementation of the recommendation of Mandal Commission to reserve 27% of the positions for government employment had led to widespread protest and unrest amongst the students community. There was a spate of students self-immolation of around 31 of them, which started from the incidence of a students self-immolation in protest of the reservation policy and the consequent sensationalizing of this news by the media leading to the series of copycat suicides. This led to tremendous public outcry and is considered as one of the most important causes for the fall of the government in power of that time. PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT PREVENTING STUDENT SUICIDE: With an alarming growth in the number of Student suicide occurrences in India, different crime prevention strategies are being setup at the Government/ Legal level and at the Civil Society Level. Government/Legal Crime Prevention Strategies: In late 2006, Naveen Jindal posed a question in Parliament; he asked the reason for the rising suicide trend amongst Indian students and how the government plans on tackling the issue. The Human Resource minister said that the following measures were being taken by the education board to tackle the situation: Firstly, they had launched helplines for students to talk about their examination related issues. 9

Secondly, the Education department added 15 minutes of additional time to the examination duration for students to get extra time to read the question paper. They also had the question papers simplified in some important subjects. In order to familiarize students with the nature of exam questions sample question papers were circulated. Another step taken by the education department was to make the CBSE 10 th board exams optional while other state education departments made similar recommendations to their local governments. Civil Society Crime Prevention Strategies: Several NGO's have been setup to help students deal with suicidal tendencies. Most of them look at talking to students experiencing suicidal tendencies and find it extremely important to conceal the identity of the person seeking help. This allows for more people to reach out for help as often times one is not willing to admit there is a problem and aided by the scare of being identified. Keeping in mind their target group being youth they make their presence felt through online networking portals like Facebook. NGOs Working in this Area: Saath: It was setup in 1998 in Gujarat. The organisation aims at providing emotional support to distressed people in order to provide them with other means besides taking their lives. All their counselling work is free of cost. As of today they have 34 volunteers working for them. They provide on on one counselling to people who reach out to them, providing follow up counselling to anyone who asks for it. SNEHA: SNEHA has been working in the field of suicide intervention for the past 22 years. It was setup in 1986 and since then over 150,000 people have utilised their services. It is open 24 hours a day for telephone calls. There are 50 volunteers working for SNEHA currently. They maintain a strict confidentiality code wherein the identity of every caller is carefully protected.

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Connecting India: It is an NGO dedicated to suicide prevention in youth. Their work takes place through their various programs, seminars and mainly their Suicide Prevention helpline. Besides NGOs there are several websites that have been setup to prevent student suicides. These websites provide different kinds of information ranging from helpline numbers to good parenting. www.befrienders.org is a website that provides suicide helpline details across India. It provides details on how to read the warning signs of depression and suicidal tendencies while also offering active support by helping one connect online immediately and talk to a counsellor.

Another website is www.goodparenting.co.in. It provides useful information on how to raise your kids, how to deal with your teens, how to tackle exam pressure, cultivating hobbies, dealing with child temperament and many other issues that concern parents, teachers and society in general. It provides information for different people the children, parents covering the whole realm of effective parenting. EFFECTIVENESS OF THESE INTERVENTIONS Although many of the NGOs provide support to suicidal individuals by befriending them and generating awareness in public and media about prevention, they also suffer from various pitfalls which impact their efficacy in the long run. Some of the major drawbacks as pointed out by Dr. Lakshmi Vijaykumar of SNEHA, Chennai are as follows: * * * Inadequate quality control Lack of organized expertise among volunteers. Majority of the endeavors not evaluated

Hence, many of the strategies implemented seem to address the problem on the superficial level only without delving into the roots which have both sociological and psychological underpinnings. When dealing with suicide timely intervention is required. For example, by merely making board exams optional one level would not solve the problem. In fact, such measures have been widely criticized for the negative

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effects they might have on the students; once the 10 th board exams are made optional there would be greater competition for the next level and given the limited infrastructure it would actually add to the stress of the students by first hiking their expectation and later not making up to them due to structural shortcomings. Such measures taken in an isolated manner might only aggravate the situation. Suicide is a multifaceted problem and the measures to prevent the same must also be dynamic and multidimensional. There has to be a collaborated, well-coordinated and committed effort to develop and implement a national plan, which is cost-effective, appropriate and relevant to the needs of the community. It must be realized that in India, suicide prevention is more of a social and public health objective rather than a traditional exercise confined within the domains of the mental health sector like various countries in the west. TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL PREVENTION As already mentioned, the Indian Education System which hold the infamous title of being the Biggest Abettors of Suicide, has to take lead roles in building countermeasures for the prevention of student suicides. This might include bringing structural and functional changes within the organizations to remodelling of the teachers-student relationships in such a way that the latter could count on the former to provide effective moral support and guidance at times when they are going through academic stress or failure, instead of living in constant fear of being oppressed and examined. India's education system is based on rote learning, or memorization, with a strong emphasis on scoring high marks. Classrooms are typically places filled with boiler cooker pressure
(c.f. CNN, Feb.4, 2010). To cite an instance: ~ Dhanashree Patil, a final year mechanical engineering student resorted to

this extreme step owing to her failure in several subjects. She need to first clear the backlog of the subjects in which she had failed before being re-admitted to the institution to pursue her engineering studies further.

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In India one of the important measures adopted towards prevention of suicides is Survivors After Suicide (SAS). SNEHA launched its Survivors After Suicide (SAS) programme in the year 2004, it is basically a Self-Help Group. STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY SAS SAS adopts this unique strategy of following up with the next primary level victims of a suicide after the individual him/herself. The strategy thus adopted is probably one of the first of its kinds in the country. They emphasize on the following aspects: * * Suicide Survivors are not Attempters-family members, others who survive following the death of their loved one by suicide. About 1 lac people die by suicide in India every year. Each suicide leaves at least 7 people devastated- 7 lacs people become survivors every year. * Objective: To understand the special needs of these people who have suffered this difficult kind of loss in silence, since people who lose someone by suicide are at a higher risk of engaging in suicidal behaviour themselves. * Thus, it aims at suicide prevention amongst the affected 7 lacs of the population.

The functioning of the SAS programme consists of the following steps: * * * * 8 weekly group meetings (2 hours). The group-10 to 15 people who have lost someone to suicide and understand the pain involved. Each group has two co-ordinators a professional therapist and a volunteer. Absolutely free of charge, maintains confidentiality.

The SAS thereby works in a gradual, indirect and oblique fashion to engage with people prone to suicide as a part of their long term strategy toward suicide prevention. ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN SUICIDE PREVENTION

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The view that suicide cannot be prevented is commonly held even by mental health professionals. Many beliefs might explain these negative attitudes, such as suicide is an individuals personal decision and therefore it must be left to his/her discretion, or its opposite which traces the major determinants of suicide as social and environmental and therefore an individual has little control over it. However, the fact remains that for an overwhelming majority that engages in suicidal behaviour, suicide is probably a permanent solution to an often temporary problem. Hence, its prevention is even more necessary. According to Mrazek and Haggertys framework, suicide prevention can be classified into three broad categories- universal, selective or indicative- on the basis of how their target groups are defined. Universal interventions target whole populations with the aim of favourably shifting proximal or distal risk factors across the entire population. Selective interventions target subgroups whose members are not yet manifesting suicidal behaviour but exhibit the factors that predispose them to do so in future (SAS programme can be looked at as a Selective Intervention), whereas, Indicated interventions are designed for people already beginning to exhibit suicidal thoughts or behaviour (such as helplines and websites etc. providing counselling services round the clock). According to Singh, the members of civil society have a major contribution to make in suicide prevention,If you see disintegration, of values and norms in the social network around you, because of whatever reasons, and in whatever guise, you should stand up and protest against it, and help those who are its victims. He is of the view that one must resist attempts of instant messiahs in a hurry to do good, and seek such social change that does not disrupt. When we know that suicide is preventable and psychiatric treatment can get a person rid of his suicidal thoughts, you must motivate a colleague, a relative or a friend, to seek professional help and savour the immense mental satisfaction of a life saved. Another important aspect is the fact that Suicide is ubiquitous, under-reported and probably also under-researched. Study of its various dimensions-preventive, therapeutic, rehabilitative, social, ethical etc. needs to be furthered amongst medical professionals, social thinkers, legislative bodies, NGOs, care givers and survivors. 14

POINTERS FOR EFFECTIVE PREVENTION OF STUDENT SUICIDE Following the Mrazek and Haggertys understanding of the classification of suicide preventing interventions, and also realizing the multidimensional nature of suicide, it is it necessary that the interventions are designed at all the three levels. One of the most urgent needs is the Decriminalization of Attempted Suicide is an urgent need. Suicide is a legal anomaly wherein the attempted act is punishable while an accomplished is not (or cannot be punished). This is also a major suggestion put forth by SUPREMISS/WHO along with the suggestion to come up with an effective national plan toward suicide prevention. Both these two measures would serve as Universal Interventions. This report also prioritizes reducing the availability of and access to pesticides and alcohol, promoting responsible media reporting of suicides to reduce copycat suicides, promoting and supporting NGOs and improving the quality of their services etc. Since destructive youth behaviour (smoking, drinking and unprotected sexual activities) are on the increase and they also co-relate to suicidal ideation, schools and colleges can serve as the building blocks of an individuals life and can play a vital role in preventing such activities by: * * * Building value systems that do not perpetuate stereotypes through labelling. Setting acceptable individual aspirations. Inculcating appropriate goal-setting mechanisms

According to the suggestions put forth by SEARO/WHO, Life-skills education combined with a problem-solving approach to cope with and handle the problems of life in an optimistic and realistic manner, as opposed to adopting and following traditional wisdom and solutions would go a long way in preventing student suicides in developing countries. Further, proper supportive help and adequate buffer mechanisms need to be built into a childs life to handle the transformation crisis from childhood to adolescence 15

effectively. Child abuse-an emerging problem in SEAR societies due to problems at home or in the environment; these victims require support in overcoming their mental stress and learning coping mechanisms. This can be taken care of by bringing in the following structural and consequent qualitative changes in the functioning of the existing educational structures: * * Development of school-based counselling services, and to have skilled professionals to refer/offer counselling and referral services. . Equipping SEAR teachers with adequate knowledge and skills, changing their attitudes and becoming more socially and psychologically adaptive to the changing realities. * Imparting better quality training to enable them to act as agents of change and enabling them to identify crisis children and high-risk children at an early stage and involving parents and friends in the various measures to deal with them. * * Fostering a healthy environment for productive interaction among students and teachers through school integration would be very helpful. Children should be equipped with good social skills, confidence-building measures, sharing crisis situations with others, seeking advice while making choices, and being open to new knowledge. * * Promoting self-esteem among children and helping them to cope with stressful situations by sharing positive life experiences Exerting less school pressures and by communicating in a positive way with children will definitely be beneficial. Above mentioned are some of the measures as suggested by the SEARO/WHO reports to prevent the dismal rates of student suicides in developing countries including India. Since they are directed towards a specific group and sometimes towards specific individuals, if implemented well these could serve as Selective and Indicative intervention measures. Apart from the aforementioned, constant attempts to create awareness are required, for example 1 0th of September has been declared as the World Suicide Prevention Day since the year 2003. Each year the International Association for Suicide Prevention 16

(IASP) collaborates with WHO on this day to draw attention to Suicide as a leading cause of premature and preventable death. Last but not the least, various studies conducted with regards to suicides in India also explored the interface between religiosity and suicide. It is seen that believe in God and religion acts as protective factor both at individual and societal levels. However, it is often debated whether it is the social network provided by religion that is protective or rather the individuals faith. Although debatable and very specific to theists, this aspect can be developed further to devise selective strategies to prevent suicides amongst people with faith if not for all. PERSONAL LEARNING Ntasha: At the end of this assignment there were two predominant learning that I could identify the first being that the issue of student suicide as gaining importance. However it is extremely difficult to obtain information related to the subject. In order to tackle the issue we need to strengthen our basic understanding about it. The second learning was in relation to dealing with this issue. The number of increasing student suicides makes one question our value groundings. Somehow students are finding it acceptable to end their lives just because they didn't do well enough on a certain exam. The whole notion of how youth should be a joyful process wherein one gets to experiment and figure out different aspects of their lives has been straight jacketed into black or white. One has to excel at school or one doesn't have the right to be deemed fit for society. Thus arriving at the issue of how to prevent or intervene in such a situation. Our prevention strategies are only scratching at the surface level. It is important that we device strategies which seek to overhaul not just the educational setup but in general create an environment that doesn't create such strict definitions for success. Sabina: While studying the various aspects relating to student suicide in India in course of this assignment, it has been a shocking realization that youth as a group probably has a very low visibility in the eyes of academics, researchers and government policy makers, and consequently, much lower is the availability of studies and documentations with regards to loss of lives of students through suicides.

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Countries such as America and Canada have elaborate studies and policies to prevent student violence and student suicides; whereas India with on the worlds highest rates of adolescent suicides refuses to see it as an important issue, thereby marginalizing the category of youth in the larger social, economic and political scenario as a whole. While the various institutions of the society such as media, are quick to report crimes committed by youth and young adults, like party crimes, rape, cyber crimes, etc., which are all over the newspapers and news channels on television, there is not enough responsible attention paid to the sociological understanding of why youth as a community is going haywire, or what are the systemic and structural reasons as to why there is an increasing sense of hopelessness and depression amongst the youth that is subsequently acted out in the form of suicide. Further, it is disturbing to see a law that criminalizes attempted suicide which suggests the shallow analysis of the legal systems regarding the issue, and total neglect of the victim angle to this phenomenon. It is necessary to see the persons indulging in suicidal ideation and behavior as a victim of related and larger social and environmental processes. The pathological approach towards prevention of suicide is not only insufficient but also ineffective in dealing with the larger forces that act on the students as stressors, and forcing them to resort to ending their lives. There is probably a lack of space for healthy dialogues and qualitative learning through participatory processes along with values of tolerance and acceptance. Hence, there is probably an unspoken need for educational set-ups to make space for different kind of individuals to be able to express themselves without inhibitions and embarrassment, and also a reassessment of the whole idea deviance and deviant behavior of students. There is a need for students to experience true learning and feel successful in dealing with real life situations through application of education, instead of just being a passive, oppressed lot taking in information and regurgitating them from time to time.

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REFERENCES * Brandon, E., et al. (2001) Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, vol. 3 1(4) American Association of Suicidology. * Eggert, et al. (1995) Reducing suicide potential among high-risk youth: tests of a school based prevention program, Suicide and Life: Threatening Behavior, Vol. 25(2), New York. * Madelyn, S.G., et al. (2001) Youth Suicide Prevention, Suicide and LifeThreatening Behavior, vol. 31. * National Crime Records Bureau (2008), Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. * Portes, P.R., et al. (2002), Understanding adolescent suicide: a psychological interpretation of the developmental and contextual factors, Adolescence. * Singh, A.R. (2004) Towards a suicide free society: identify suicide prevention as public health policy, Mens Sana Monographs, Vol. 2(1).

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Tribbensee, L. and Lake, P. (2002) The emerging crisis of college student suicide: law and policy responses to serious forms of self-inflicted injury, Stetson Law Review, Vol. 32.

Vijaykumar, L. (2007) Suicide and its prevention: the urgent need in India, Indian J Psychiatry, vol. 49(2).

Yadwad, B.S., et al. (2005) Is Attempted Suicide An Offence? JIAFM, vol. 27(2).

www.befrienders.org, www.who.int/en, www.searo.who.int/, www.snehaindia.org

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