{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2336", "Trahan Leads Bipartisan Call for Action to Stop \u201cSanctioned Suicide\u201d Website", "2021-12-21", "2021", "2021-12", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Lori Trahan", "T000482", "trahan.house.gov", "trahan", "https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "LOWELL, MA \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee\u2019s Health and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittees, led a bipartisan group of House members writing to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to request information on the Department\u2019s ability to investigate Sanctioned Suicide, a website that according to a recent New York Times investigation, provides susceptible users with \u201cexplicit directions on how to die.\u201d The lawmakers also requested information on the DOJ\u2019s statutory authority \u2013 if any \u2013 to hold the website\u2019s operators accountable.\n\n\u201cSanctioned Suicide hosts public forums, live chats, and private messaging around suicide. Users share their suicide plans with one another, promote poisons, and post \u2018goodbye posts\u2019 and real-time suicide attempts, which are the most-viewed posts on the site,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. \u201cThe New York Times article states that only 5% of the posts on Sanctioned Suicide are on recovery and of the hundred most-viewed posts, 53 include instructions or discussions of methods to die by suicide, and 28 narrate attempts. This is deeply disturbing given that the website has 6 million average views per month, four times that of the national suicide prevention lifeline.\u201d\n\nSanctioned Suicide contains countless pages and threads compiled by anonymous users that focus on ways to die by suicide and encourage fellow members to take their own lives. According to the New York Times, members discuss various ways to die by suicide, including \u201changing, poison, guns and gas,\u201d and \u201cparticipants routinely nudge one another along as they share suicide plans, posting reassuring messages, thumbs-up and heart emojis, and praise for those who follow through: \u2018brave,\u2019 \u2018a legend,\u2019 \u2018a hero.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cThe owners of the site try to limit legal liability by encouraging anonymity, requiring users be over 18, and deleting accounts of users after they have posted \u2018goodbye\u2019 threads,\u201d the lawmakers continued. \u201cThe New York Times identified three victims under 18 in their article. The website\u2019s terms also prohibit users from assisting and encouraging suicide, but a simple visit to the website confirms that this policy is not enforced.\u201d\n\nDespite efforts from some service providers and nations like Australia, Germany, and Italy, which have taken the site down or restricted access, Sanctioned Suicide continues to reemerge with new domain names and remains easily accessible via a simple search engine inquiry. Understanding that \u201cthere is no federal law criminalizing assisting or encouraging suicide,\u201d the lawmakers requested the DOJ\u2019s response to the following questions:\n\nDoes the DOJ have the authority and discretion to investigate the Sanctioned Suicide website?\n\nDoes the DOJ have the statutory authority to pursue a criminal case against Diego Joaqu\u00edn Galante and Lamarcus Small, for their alleged role in operating or as members on the website? If not, why not?\n\nDoes the DOJ have the technical expertise and human resources to identify these kinds of popular websites that promote suicide?\n\nDoes the DOJ share information about websites that promote suicide with state and local law enforcement?\n\nDoes the DOJ share information about websites that promote suicide with community-based organizations involved in suicide prevention and mental health care?\n\nWhat actions can Congress take to give the DOJ the authority necessary to prosecute the Sanctioned Suicide website owners and delist the site in the United States?\n\nLawmakers who co-signed the letter include Representatives David B. McKinley, P.E. (R-WV-01), Susan Wild (D-PA-07), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-11), Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), Tony C\u00e1rdenas (D-CA-29), and David N. Cicilline (D-RI-01).\n\nIf you are having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 (TALK)or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. If you are outside of the United States, please click HERE.\n\nThe full text of the letter is embedded below. A digital copy can be accessed HERE.\n\n-------------------------------------\n\nThe Honorable Merrick Garland\n\nAttorney General\n\nU.S. Department of Justice\n\n950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW\n\nWashington, DC 20530\n\nDear Attorney General Garland:\n\nLast week, the New York Times published the results of their investigation into Sanctioned Suicide, a website which \u201cprovides explicit directions on how to die.\u201d The New York Times lists 45 people who were active on the website and then died by suicide, 22 of whom were living in the United States. We write to you to explore avenues through which the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Congress can pursue justice for the families of these victims.\n\nSanctioned Suicide hosts public forums, live chats, and private messaging around suicide. Users share their suicide plans with one another, promote poisons, and post \u201cgoodbye posts\u201d and real-time suicide attempts, which are the most-viewed posts on the site. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and suicide rates have increased by roughly 33% between 1999 and 2019. The New York Times article states that only 5% of the posts on Sanctioned Suicide are on recovery and of the hundred most-viewed posts, 53 include instructions or discussions of methods to die by suicide, and 28 narrate attempts. This is deeply disturbing given that the website has 6 million average views per month, four times that of the national suicide prevention lifeline.\n\nFurther, after extensive investigation, the article\u2019s authors claim to have identified the two men running the website \u2013 Diego Joaqu\u00edn Galante and Lamarcus Small, though both have denied these allegations. Several service providers have taken the site down, and Australia, Germany, and Italy have each restricted access in their countries. Nevertheless, the site continues to pop up with new domain names. The owners of the site try to limit legal liability by encouraging anonymity, requiring users be over 18, and deleting accounts of users after they have posted \u201cgoodbye\u201d threads. The New York Times identified three victims under 18 in their article. The website\u2019s terms also prohibit users from assisting and encouraging suicide, but a simple visit to the website confirms that this policy is not enforced.\n\nWhile it is our understanding that there is no federal law criminalizing assisting or encouraging suicide, we write to do our due diligence and confirm the DOJ\u2019s options for pursuing a case against the owners of this website. Namely:\n\nDoes the DOJ have the authority and discretion to investigate the Sanctioned Suicide website?\n\nDoes the DOJ have the statutory authority to pursue a criminal case against Diego Joaqu\u00edn Galante and Lamarcus Small, for their alleged role in operating or as members on the website? If not, why not?\n\nDoes the DOJ have the technical expertise and human resources to identify these kinds of popular websites that promote suicide?\n\nDoes the DOJ share information about websites that promote suicide with state and local law enforcement?\n\nDoes the DOJ share information about websites that promote suicide with community-based organizations involved in suicide prevention and mental health care?\n\nWhat actions can Congress take to give the DOJ the authority necessary to prosecute the Sanctioned Suicide website owners and delist the site in the United States?\n\nThank you for your attention into this pressing matter.\n\nSincerely,\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-06T14:24:52Z", "2026-04-06T15:54:06Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2336"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8516842499375343, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}