Suicide baiting in the internet era

Abstract

This study examined a sample of 26 cases from 2001 to 2017, in which remote online internet audiences witnessed a disturbed person's threat over a webcam to commit suicide. In almost all cases (92%) the would-be suicide went through with the threat. Baiting or jeering (encouraging the suicide attempt and/or denigrating the victim) occurred in 11 of 26 cases (42%). However assistance (attempts to discourage the suicide threat) also occurred in 88% of cases. This study of online baiting extends Mann's (1981) archival study of crowd baiting in episodes of suicide threats from buildings and bridges. Analysis of accounts of the 26 online episodes in our study revealed consistent with Mann (1981) ..