New Jersey Section 2C:11-6 – Aiding suicide

New Jersey’s Law on Aiding Suicide: An Overview for the Everyday Person

New Jersey’s law on aiding suicide, like most states, aims to balance competing interests. On one hand, the law seeks to preserve life and prevent exploitation of vulnerable people. On the other hand, it tries to respect personal autonomy and compassion. This article provides an overview of the key aspects of New Jersey’s law on assisted suicide (section 2C:11-6) for the everyday person.

The Basics

In New Jersey, it’s a second-degree crime to purposely aid someone in committing suicide if your actions cause the suicide or attempted suicide. This means you could face 5-10 years in prison and fines up to $150,000 for assisting someone’s suicide.

To be guilty under 2C:11-6, the prosecution must prove:

• You purposefully aided the suicide, meaning you intended to help the person die by suicide. Accidentally contributing to a suicide doesn’t count.
• Your actions caused the suicide or attempted suicide. Just discussing suicide abstractly doesn’t violate the law.
• The person who died actually committed or attempted to commit suicide. If they died of natural causes, you’re not guilty of abetting suicide.

So if you buy poison for your friend who wants to kill themselves, drive them to the cliff they jump off of, or otherwise intentionally facilitate their suicide, you could be prosecuted in New Jersey. Even encouraging someone over text messages to take their own life could make you liable.

What’s the Rationale?

Laws against assisted suicide aim to protect vulnerable individuals from being coerced or manipulated into taking their lives. The government has an interest in preserving life and preventing exploitation.

These laws also uphold the ethics of the medical profession. Doctors take an oath to “do no harm,” so assisting patient suicides could violate their duties. Outlawing it helps maintain trust in healthcare.

Finally, suicide assistance laws aim to maintain social order and standards of decency. Society values human life and wants to deter people from casually ending it.

What About Free Will and Compassion?

Critics argue that competent adults should have the freedom to choose how and when their lives end. Banning assisted suicide infringes on personal autonomy.

They also say assisting a dying person’s suicide can be an act of compassion. For someone in intractable pain, it may seem the humane choice.

Some also contend that decriminalizing assisted suicide has not led to widespread abuses in places that allow it, like Oregon. Slippery slope arguments seem overblown.

The Exceptions

New Jersey makes some exceptions where assisting suicide doesn’t lead to criminal charges:

• Withdrawing life support per the patient’s wishes. This is not considered assisting suicide.
• Providing palliative medication that unintentionally hastens death. As long as your intent is to ease pain, not cause death, this is allowed.
• Assisting suicide attempts that fail. Attempted suicide and attempted assistance are not crimes in NJ.

So passive euthanasia and honest pain treatment are permitted, though active euthanasia (like giving lethal doses) is not. Failed attempts also go unpunished.

What About Free Speech?

Generally, speech encouraging or informing someone about suicide is protected under the First Amendment. However, speech integral to criminal conduct can be prohibited.

So abstract advocacy of suicide is legal, but intentionally advising someone on how to kill themselves to further their suicide may violate 2C:11-6. That “speech” crosses into criminal conduct.

The Role of Consent

Consent from the person who dies does not protect someone who aids their suicide in New Jersey. Even if the deceased competently and rationally decided to end their life, assisting them remains illegal.

However, consent may be relevant to sentencing. Prosecutors might show more leniency if the defendant was clearly acting compassionately per the deceased’s wishes.

Defenses

Several defenses could potentially defeat charges of assisting suicide:

• Duress – Showing you aided the suicide under threat of harm to yourself or others.
• Necessity – Arguing assisting suicide was necessary to avoid a greater evil, like prolonged suffering.
• Insanity – Demonstrating you were mentally ill and unable to appreciate the nature of your conduct.
• Mistake of fact – Proving you reasonably but incorrectly believed the person did not actually die from suicide.
• Free speech – Asserting your speech was abstract advocacy, not integral to the criminal conduct.

The duress, necessity and insanity defenses could be especially compelling in sympathetic cases.

Sentencing Factors

If convicted of assisting suicide, several factors might lead to more lenient sentencing:

• No prior criminal history
• Acted with the victim’s clear consent
• Motivated by compassion rather than malice or profit
• Minimal or passive assistance, versus active killing
• Extreme suffering experienced by the victim
• Close relationship between assistant and deceased
• Advanced age or terminal illness of the victim
• Remorse and cooperation with authorities

So while aiding suicide is illegal in New Jersey, the law does account for mitigating circumstances in appropriate cases.

Takeaways

• Assisting suicide is a second-degree crime in NJ punishable by years in prison.
• Prosecutors must prove intentional aid that caused the suicide.
• Laws against it aim to protect life and prevent exploitation.
• Critics argue it infringes on autonomy and compassion.
• Exceptions exist for passive euthanasia and failed attempts.
• Defenses like duress and necessity are possible but not guaranteed.
• Sentencing tends to be more lenient in sympathetic cases.

So while New Jersey prohibits assisting suicide, the law leaves some room for discretion based on the context and circumstances. But anyone contemplating helping someone die should think carefully about the very real legal risks involved.