SYNOPSIS A comparison was made of the crime rate among 181 suicides and 181 controls, representing an unselected sample of the population matched with the suicides for sex, age, marital status, place of residence and occupational level. Sixteen per cent of the suicides and 11 % of the controls had a criminal record, a statistically insignificant difference. In addition, no significant differences were found in the proportion of recidivists and of violent offenders, or in the number of their offences and convictions. A significant difference was found regarding the distribution of the offences by particular laws: more than a half of the offences committed by criminal suicides concerned violations of the road traffic laws, this being in agreement with the hypothesis that risky, accident-prone behaviour is a suicidal behaviour equivalent.

Samples of female suicides committed in the sixties, seventies and eighties were investigated in the Canton of Berne with regard to some demographic characteristics. The number of suicides and the suicide rate increased, however, the male:female ratio decreased in the City of Berne, but not in the remaining regions of the Canton. The suicide rates of the younger age categories were found to have increased and to approximate generally those of the older age groups. The protective influence of the marriage against suicide seems to be loosing its significance. The suicide rates among employed women were found to be lower than expected.

No abstract