Building prisons does seem to lower crime rates – at least if you put criminals in them. Similarly, despite this NYU student’s insistence that suicide barriers at places like NYU and Cornell are pointless, there’s evidence that they can dissuade some people from jumping.
September 28th, 2012 at 3:19PM
I don’t see how the barriers themselves can hurt and if they give a desperate/pained person pause they might help, but they may mostly serve as a sign of the limits of bureaucracies to respond to such tragedies, not unlike many of the security rituals we now endure at airports.
September 28th, 2012 at 3:35PM
There are practical ways to prevent suicides. They involve removing the availability of methods. Replacement of coal gas by natural gas in homes worked. Installation of catalytic converters in automobiles worked. Restriction of firearms works. Screens also work by the same principle. The author UD cited seems to be saying that there is an existential inevitability to suicide. But there is a large impulsive component in the moment as well. That’s why barriers work.