Examining “suicide by cop”: A critical review of the literature

Suicide by cop (SbC), or evidencing intentionally life-threatening behaviors in order to coerce a law enforcement officer to respond with lethal force (American Association of Suicidology, 2013), is a phenomenon that has recently emerged as an area of scholarly interest, but little consensus has been reached regarding perpetrator demographics or intervention efficacy during SbC incidents. The present paper critically reviews the SbC research of the last 20 years with focus given to individual characteristics, situational variables, and legal intervention outcomes. Eighteen studies representing both early and more recent empirical work from 1994 to 2014 were selected for review after meeting inclusionary criteria. Results indicated that the typical SbC perpetrator is a younger adult, White male experiencing a romantic relationship conflict who has a significant mental health and criminal history and who often is intoxicated at the time of the offense. Typical legal interventions, including use of less-lethal means and verbal negotiation strategies, are not effective at preventing subject death due to officer response-unless the officer focuses verbal negotiation strategies on the perpetrator's problems. Common methodological limitations include inconsistent definitions of SbC, varying typologies of SbC intent, inadequate coding procedures, and reliance on convenience samples. Future research is needed to examine international trends in SbC perpetration, suicidal motivation in averted SbC cases, and to empirically validate SbC intervention efficacy.