Completed suicides among Quebec adolescents involved with juvenile justice and child welfare services

In the Province of Quebec (Canada), adolescents involved with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems committed at least one third of all completed suicides in their age group in 1995 and 1996. Their risk of suicide, standardized for age and sex, was five times that of the general adolescent population, and female juvenile delinquents had the highest relative risk of suicide (36.1). Cumulated risk factors may explain those results. Since 40% of those suicides did occur when subjects were still actively involved with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, those agencies should revise their suicide prevention strategies.