Judy Rogg
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Please share your experience with our Prevention Program
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Hi Robin,
This is Judy Rogg, Director of Erik’s Cause. You ask an excellent question. To piggy-back onto Mark Cernekee’s comment, there is a process called a psychological autopsy during which the police do a deep dive into the intent of the victim.
Although the physical evidence of a choking game death may look similar to a suicide, it is the intent that is key, and a full investigation into the history of the victim is what helps to show intent. But these take a lot of time and many police departments do not have the resources to devote to this; they rush to a decision based on the physical evidence which does not show intent. Still, sadly, many coroners ignore the investigator reports that uncover evidence of playing this “game,” citing the physical evidence only. Both of these issues lead to misclassification of many choking game deaths as suicide.
Please see the document on our Downloads page called “Suicide or Choking Game – Getting it Right!” I can also email you more info about the psychological autopsy if you want. -
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Kids just don’t know that it’s not safe and don’t think it thru like most adults would. With tons of online videos posted by other kids telling them it’s totally safe, they believe the other kids and don’t check it out before trying it. Seems simple for an adult, but kids’ brains aren’t fully developed yet to think it thru.
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Thank you Linda. Unfortunately there are even more news stories from the past but frequently news articles get deleted from their source and the stories are no longer able to be found. But you are correct in that I believe our collective efforts at awareness have started to de-stigmatize the shame – more and more of us are speaking out and news outlets are more willing to do stories. I also pray that one day we won’t need to have sites like this but in the meantime I appreciate everyone’s efforts. It really does take a village … I am confident that if we continue what we’re doing we WILL get there. Thank you for being part of the fight.