cjrc-sponsored research

  • Project:
  • Recent Court Involvement and Risk of Suicide: A Population-Based Story Utilizing a Comprehensive Criminal Justice Database

  • Investigator:
  • Daniel J. Flannery, (Justice Studies & Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Kent State University)
  • Thomas B. Cook (Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio)
  • Mark S. Davis (CJRC)

  • Sponsor:
  • American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (funded, 2007-2008)

  • Abstract:
  • The aim of this study is to assess the risk of suicide due to recent court involvement legal troubles in the general population and to identify additional opportunities for suicide prevention within the criminal justice and legal systems. This study will utilize a comprehensive, county-wide criminal justice database with detailed historical and court docket and event data across all types of courts linked to death certificates to assess the full extent of court involvement and legal troubles preceding suicide and other premature deaths. Using additional data extracted from coroner’s records, including investigative and autopsy reports and suicide notes, the study will explore the overall role and timing of court involvement as a precipitating factor in suicide. The study will quantify and characterize the types of legal troubles, both major and minor, experienced by suicide victims with a level of detail never possible before the recent creation of comprehensive electronic data archives of court data.