On 16 October, the Director of Public Prosecutions announced a clarification to the Crown Prosecution Service Policy on cases of encouraging or assisting suicide, following recent comments of the Supreme Court in R (Nicklinson & Anor) v Ministry of Justice and R (AM)  v Director of Public Prosecutions [2014] UKSC 38.

In the judgment, which was handed down on 24 June 2014, the court addressed the lawfulness of the DPP’s “Policy for Prosecutors in respect of Cases of Encouraging or Assisting Suicide” (“the 2010 guidelines”) which set out the policy in relation to prosecutions under Section 2. The court’s summary of the judgment states, [emphasis added]: Continue reading →