Many innocent people are dying every year, in many countries; these deaths occur because of torture which infringe upon the freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. Torture, “the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do, say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain”, is an injustice (Merriam-Webster). In the past, torture victims have been seen in events such as the Holocaust, Medieval Europe, the Tower of London, and most recently in events orchestrated by Putin and ISIS. During 2011 according to Amnesty, the world took a stand and went on protest for restrictions of freedom of expression in 91 countries; many governments replied with violence and most of those …show more content…
Russia has been recognized for torturing people through the Cold War, the KGB, and tyrants. Putin has many malevolent deaths written under his name and the killing of people is torture because one is “inflicting severe pain on someone” (Merriam-Webster). As proof of the bodies built up in a ten year period, Putin has chosen to execute at least ten activist fighting him to keep them silent (JNCG). These deaths infringe on the right of freedom from cruel and unusual punishment because the act of causing death is, by law, cruel. Moreover, Putin sent a human right defender to death, “in June 2011 two unidentified men severely beat Bakhrom Hamroev… a leading Russian human rights group—in his Moscow apartment building” (World Report 2012). The human right defender was helping people go to court against Putin for torture and deaths he has caused at the time when Hamroev died. Beatings are generally part of prisoners’ lives to get information out of them, however in this case it is for the use to keep Hamroev silent. On the other hand, the KGB participates in the culture torture; recently a torture house became open to the public to expose the culture of Russia in 2014 (Presser). People such as, Putin and the KGB, are calling torture part of Russian culture to be able to permit opening of torture houses as historical landmarks. However, it is part of the …show more content…
Police and authorities in the country of Iraq are adopting torture as well, “when women in Iraq are arrested, they routinely go through three gruesome phases, starting with humiliation, followed by torture, and often ending with rape” (Nadhar). Women going through those steps experience cruel punishments of torture, rape, humiliation. Authorities demean women to a lower level to make them vulnerable which increases the amount of cruelty received. On the other hand, ISIS is selling women and handing them off as gifts, “the London-based group said the captives, including girls aged 10-12, faced torture, rape, forced marriage and were "sold" or given as "gifts" to ISIS fighters or their supporters in militant-held areas in Iraq and Syria” (CBS news). Captives are being tortured as pleasure for those who receive them as gifts. Rape is one of the cruelest punishments that can happen to a woman because it causes emotional scarring, physical scarring, and possible unwanted consequences. Some torture comes from a minority, according to amnesty, “torture, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, suffered by women and girls from Iraq’s Yezidi minority who were abducted by the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS), highlights the savagery of IS rule” (Amnesty). Certain
In the article, “The Torture Myth,” Anne Applebaum explores the controversial topic of torture practices, focused primarily in The United States. The article was published on January 12, 2005, inspired by the dramatic increase of tensions between terrorist organizations and The United States. Applebaum explores three equality titillating concepts within the article. Applebaum's questions the actual effectiveness of using torture as a means of obtaining valuable information in urgent times. Applebaum explores the ways in which she feels that the United States’ torture policy ultimately produces negative effects upon the country. Applebaum's final question is if torture is not optimally successful, why so much of society believes it
Imagine awaking in the morning, going downstairs and preparing the morning meal. While enjoying the sunshine through the kitchen window along with a chai tea latte, the news on the television suddenly changes from the mundane to chaotic confusion, disaster has struck! The implausible has just happened and the nation is in chaos. This disaster could happen at any moment and at any point across the globe. If the only method of prevention to this traumatic event is by the skilled technique of information extraction known as torture, would it not be the government’s obligation to the people to ensure this method of prevention was exercised? When considering the threat from extremists, the United States government must allow for the use of
The War on Terror has produced several different viewpoints on the utilization of torture and its effectiveness as a means to elicit information. A main argument has been supplied that torture is ineffective in its purpose to gather information from the victim. The usefulness of torture has been questioned because prisoners might use false information to elude their torturers, which has occurred in previous cases of torture. It has also been supposed that torture is necessary in order to use the information to save many lives. Torture has been compared to civil disobedience. In addition, the argument has been raised that torture is immoral and inhumane. Lastly, Some say that the acts are not even regarded as torture.
Torture and Democracy written by Darius M. Rejali, delves into the complexity of torture that exists and has existed throughout the world. Published in 2007 by Princeton University Press in New Jersey, the book is an excellent resource for not just educators but, students and individuals interested in political science alike. Torture and Democracy, ISBN: 978-0-691-14333-0, is priced at $48.43 on Amazon.com for a paperback edition. The book has 849 pages that include appendixes in the latter section for readers to review references, notes, index, and other pertinent information that may have needed further explanation throughout the text. Darius Rejali is an accredited professor of political science at Reed College located in Oregon (Rejali 2007). Through his exquisite work and evaluation of torture records, Rejali is recognized as an expert on modern torture internationally (Rejali 2007). In Torture and Democracy, Rejali develops his thesis that torture in democratic states are prevalent even though it seems nonexistent. He argues that through techniques that are performed in such a way that leaves no marks on the
Today we can say again in a loud and clear voice, the United States should never condone or practice torture anywhere in the world… America is at our best when our actions match our values… Yes, the threat of terrorism is real and urgent, scores of children were just murdered in Pakistan, beheadings in the Middle East, a siege in Sydney, these tragedies not only break hearts but should steel our resolve and underscore that our values are what set us apart from our adversaries (“Should Interrogation Techniques”).
Following along with the ticking time bomb scenario or any other future terrorist attack, many opponents of torture like to argue, how do the investigators really know the person they have in custody is for sure the terrorist who knows where the location of the bomb is or any other information that is needed. What if that isn’t the right person and the one who is in custody is being tortured but is completely innocent. The way that technology is improving and advancing from day to day, the idea of being wrong is very rare (Torture). Before investigators and researchers take the time to arrest the terrorist and get them in custody, they do precise investigations to make sure they are right. They will not take into custody and torture the person
Ever since his introduction into politics in 1991, Putin has used his position to give special treatment to friends and allies by allowing organizations to create monopolies, using city funds for their own interests, and laundering money, receiving support in return (Ellis). This support allowed Putin to rise to the position of Prime Minister and then President. The support he receives from these oligarchs largely influences the decisions he makes as president, as Garry Kasparov argues, “There is no consideration of what is or is not good for Russia, or for Russians, only what is best for him and his close circle of oligarch elites.” This shows Putin’s aggression because he is willing to sacrifice political decisions and actions at the expense of his own people in order to stay in power. Therefore, his system of enriching the oligarchs that support him works well in his favor; and when an oligarch opposes his rule, he sees to it that they be crushed. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of Russia’s richest men who openly criticized Putin was imprisoned with a 14 year sentence for his opposition (Ellis). Khodorkovsky is not the only critic to have been silenced, however, as there have been many more instances of this. Ever since Putin’s rise to power, thirteen journalists have been murdered in Russia; all falling under mysterious
Interrogational torture is one of the many tough ethical questions that people debate about in the United States. Is it right or is it wrong? Many believe that the United States does not practice intense interrogational acts such as torture. Many people have fought to abolish any form of torture while many fight to keep some forms of it to help keep the peace. Whether you believe in it or not, torture is and will always be an ethical dilemma that comes up.
The CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency, has been the subject of government mystery for years. With so many unknown secrets, it is no wonder that mistrust and controversy have joined the mysterious aura surrounding the organization. One such controversy that has drawn much attention in recent years is that associated with the CIA's Interrogation Program. Numerous reports have been and are still continuing to be released on the program, specifically on the torture utilized. Torture in itself is a sensitive issue, even more so when combined with an already suspicious government agency. These reports have therefore divided the public on the question: should the CIA face prosecution for torture in the Interrogation Program? Due to the fact that
In their constitution, Article 21 states that no torture will be allowed (Levina, 2013, p.112) and the Criminal Code of Russia, Article 117 also criminalize any form of intentional injury (Levina, 2013, p. 113). Despite these two provisions, torture is actually very widespread and regularly used by the police force. For example, torture and violence were applied regularly towards the Chechen Republic in 1994 (Gilinskiy, 2011, p.164). Torture is also the preferred method of obtaining information from detainees as prison systems have "pressing huts" (Gilinskiy, 2011, p.164) where prison guards subject detainees who refuse to admit guilt to torture in order to extract a guilty confession from them and torture is also used to correct any misbehaviour by prisoners (Gilinskiy, 2011, p.164). The government also seems to have no desire to stop using torture methods (Gillinskiy, 2011, p.164), which is troublesome because Russia is still a superpower meaning that any change in torture policies will have to come within as it is unlikely that Russia will cave into international pressure. Therefore, it seems that the government is generally in favor of torture, while the population has a more anti view of it. This also speaks to the ability of the government to hide and suppress any negative views that the population may have, an action accomplished through media censorship (Malakhov, 2014,
“The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.” (Carl Jung). Wise words from a man of much honor and knowledge of the totalitarian regimes around the world he lives in. Throughout documented history, torture and force played a role in nearly every totalitarian government. From Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, to Joseph Stalin 's Soviet Union the belief of force and hurting people has been alive, active in the minds of mad men in even the most current of times. Older societies like our own believed in a way of torturing, it was just a way of getting what was needed from the specific person, no thoughts of depth going into how it might affect the person or society as a whole. Obviously torture and force were as real today as when our main source of insight, the novel, 1984, was written. This book talks about the horrors of torture our main character was forced into. This comes as a hard pill to swallow knowing that the author of the book more than likely got his inspiration from the totalitarian governments in existence during his time of life. More real than anything else in life is fear through torture, the real life thought of being tortured sends shock waves of fear into people, one of the worst of consequences these people live in is oppression and outwardly living and believing the way their governments want, this leads to a halt in a civilization 's culture and ideas sadly which in turn has a trickle effect and can affect
countries, refrain from speaking out against unfair and unjust governments in fear of torture and
With the poorly supported claim that “torture is [justifiable] only to save lives,” Levin presents weakly supported cases that appeal to the reader’s sense of emotion where torture might be valid. In the first scenario, he describes a terrorist threatening an overpopulated city with an atomic bomb; the second, a terrorist who has kidnapped a mother’s baby.
Torture in Prisons should be enforced due to the fact that the criminals would get what he/she deserves and it would pry out information the criminal could be hiding. There are all kinds of statistics of criminal activity that go along with lying and how they get themselves out of lie detector tests. They need to get what they deserve.
Numerous people are affected by torture in a lot of distinct ways and countries. Torture can be anything from kidnapping to sexual debasement. “I was beaten continuously. They slapped my face and head for three days. I don’t know how long I was unconscious,” illustrates Yvette, a torture survivor from Uganda (Rodgers 1).