Attempted Suicide No Longer A Crime In Ghana – Parliament

Attempted Suicide No Longer A Crime In Ghana – Parliament

Attempted suicide has been decriminalised in Ghana. Ghana’s Parliament yesterday, made some amendments in the criminal act to exclude suicide or attempted suicide.

From Tuesday, March 28, 2923, anyone who makes an attempt to commit suicide shall be conclusively considered to have severe mental disorder thus shall be provided with mental health care rather than punishing them by putting them behind bars.

Until the act was passed and accepted, people who attempted to commit suicide committed a misdemeanour under the Criminal Offences Act of Ghana, 1960.

Despite the fact that some health practitioners had always spoken against criminalizing attempted suicide to protect the over 1500 yearly people who try to kill themselves out of issues known to them, some members of parliament were against the amendment, yet majority approved.