The aim is to identify common patterns of behaviour, symptoms etc, and to use this information to provide guidance to medical practitioners to enable them to identify at an early stage symptoms which indicate that an individual's mental state has the potential to lead to their committing suicide or homicide. Early identification may lead to timely intervention and diagnosis, and it is hoped that this may result in a reduction in the rates of suicide and homicide.Further, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has had a Suicide Prevention Strategy in place for some years, with a revised strategy introduced as recently as 1998.