Suicide should be legal.

I will not be fully addressing all the points here as I usually do, since my argument does not rely on all points being valid. I will mainly be defending my first warranting statement: that it is impossible for the government to punish the deceased after the deed is done. First, though, I will minorly address each of my opponent's other points. Defending my #2: I claimed that it had no one else _directly_ loses out. Indirectly, it is conceivable that many people would suffer, but there are a myriad of valid decisions we make that may cause others to suffer as a side effect. For example, one might abandon a friendship he or she no longer values, one might sever ties with his or her family, move to japan, etc. The fact is that decisions sometimes cause other people to suffer. This is not valid reason by itself that something should be illegal (even if it were possible to punish the deceased). Defending my #3: Carry my same point over. The fact that emotional damage exists is not exclusive to suicide, nor is it enough to justify making something illegal (even if it were possible to punish the deceased). Opponent's point #1: Mistakes are not and should not be illegal. Nor should something be made illegal based on whether or not doing so saves lives. The law is (or should be) about what's fair, what preserves people's liberties to make their own decisions, etc. Not about what saves lives, regardless of the loss of liberty involved. Therefore, this does not justify making suicide illegal (even if it were possible to punish the deceased). Opponent's point #2: Suicide is already frowned upon. Other nations are not obligated to follow US laws, especially when committing acts of terrorism. To suggest that they would stop using this tactic because we don't like it is absurd. Therefore, this does not justify making suicide illegal (even if it were possible to punish the deceased). And now, I will defend point 1, which is the bulk of what I intend to make my case using. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Defending my #1: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My opponent has suggested 2 different possible ways to punish the deceased after he is found guilty of suicide. I will now address each suggested way. a. "Loss of estate." The only thing I can assume my opponent meant by this is that the government would seize the estate of the deceased, and therefore family would not inherit from him or her. It doesn't take very close observation to realize who this is really punishing: the relatives of the deceased. Not only is this unfair to them, it also does not punish the deceased, who would be the criminal in this case. There's a reason we don't lock up a murderer's family. The law is meant to punish criminals in order to administer justice, not punish innocent individuals for no reason. This is not a valid way to punish the deceased for the reasons mentioned above. b. "Defacing the body." First, let me say that this is a barbaric proposal, one that no modern western civilization would be willing to adopt. Second, let me be clear that this does not punish the deceased. In fact, it could only bring some suffering to those still alive. This is, of course, unless my opponent is attempting to use mythology as evidence to back up his position. Let us consider that the majority of people are either buried, where their bodies will eventually decay, or cremated, where their bodies are burnt to ashes. It is only under foreign, uncommon mythologies, perhaps that of Ancient Egypt (I say this because of mummies), that the state of a person's body after death matters. First, recognize that the USA is a secular nation. Our laws therefore must have a secular purpose. And defacing a body is no secular means of punishing the deceased. Second, if mythology is fair game, think of the ridiculous alternatives that could be used. We could perform rituals to summon spirits to haunt the deceased in the afterlife. The fact is, in the eyes of the law, neither of these are valid ways to punish the deceased. The law, which is a secular body, has no means by which to punish a dead person. Therefore, there is no way to effectively make suicide illegal. For this reason, impossibility, I am against making suicide illegal. I urge anyone reading this to favor reason and adopt my position on the subject.