Is Torture justified?

Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. (85)

Sexual abuse is the forced and undesired sexual behaviour from one person onto another and/or sexual activity that can be deemed as inappropriate and/or harmful

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.

Every single person in America today grew up with the belief that torture is morally wrong. Popular culture, religious point of views, and every other form of culture for many decades has taught that it is a wrongdoing. But is torture really a wrong act to do? To examine the act of torture as either a means or an end we must inquire about whether torture is a means towards justice and therefore morally permissible to practice torture on certain occasions. “Three issues dominate the debates over the morality of torture: (1) Does torture work? (2) Is torture ever morally acceptable? And (3) What should be the state’s policy regarding the use of torture?” (Vaughn, 605). Torture “is the intentional inflicting of severe pain or suffering on people to punish or intimidate them or to extract information from them” (Vaughn, 604). The thought of torture can be a means of promoting justice by using both the Utilitarian view and the Aristotelian view. Using John Stuart Mills concept of utilitarianism, he focuses on the greatest happiness principle which helps us understand his perspective on torture and whether he believes it is acceptable to do so, and Aristotle uses the method of virtue of ethics to helps us better understand if he is for torture. The term torture shall be determined by exploring both philosophers’ definition of justice, what comprises a “just” act, what is considered “unjust”, and then determined if it would be accepted by, or condemned by either of these two

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

Sexual abuse is the force of sexual activity by one person on another, as by the use of threats or coercion.

According to Joycelyn M. Pollock, torture is defined as the deliberate infliction of violence and, through violence, severe mental and/or physical suffering upon individuals. Torture, according to Christopher Tindale as quoted in Torture and the Ticking bomb by Bob Brecher,

Is torture justified? Does it make us feel safer? Most Americans would say that it is immoral to torture any human being for any reason. There are a few people left who would disagree with that and say that some deserve to be tortured in order to obtain information that could potentially save the lives of hundreds or thousands.

Ritualistic child abuse is an extreme form of abuse that includes physical, mental, verbal, and spiritual abuse which often includes forced sex, repeated practices, child prostitution and child pornography (Bottoms, Shaver, & Goodman, 1996). There are different forms of ritual abuse, some containing aspects of mind control “programming”, hypnosis, and/or forced use of a victim as a vessel for a malevolent demon or spirit. Ritual abuse (RA) consists of conditioning and torture carried out in a ceremonial or calculated manner for the purpose of effecting control over a victim’s mind and behavior (Lacter, 2011). Although survivors have reported various forms of abuse, Lacter (2011) offers a partial list of forms of ritualistic torture, including sexual abuse and torture; electric shock; forced ingestion of offensive body fluids and matter, such as blood, urine, feces, flesh, semen, etc.; sensory deprivation; drugs to create illusion, confusion, and amnesia; forced to witness abuse, torture, and sacrifice of people and animals, usually with knives; forced participation in child pornography and prostitution; spiritual abuse to cause victim to feel possessed, harassed, and controlled internally by spirits or demons; harm or threats of harm to family, friends, loved ones, pets, and other victims, to force compliance; and many others.

A clearer definition was constructed in 1985. “Any act by which sever pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or

Waterboarding is a form of water torture which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of a restrained captive that causes the individual to experience the sensation of drowning.

Torture (Latin torquere, “to twist”), in law, infliction of severe bodily pain either as punishment, or to compel a person to confess to a crime, or to give evidence in a judicial proceeding. Among primitive peoples, torture has been used as a means of ordeal and to punish captured enemies. Examination by torture, often called the “question,” has been used in many countries as a judicial method. It involves using instruments to extort evidence from unwilling witnesses.

Government, elected, state or neighborhood, regular citizen or military, is approved to submit or to teach any other individual to submit torment. Nor may any authority overlook or endure torment in any frame. No extraordinary conditions might be conjured as a legitimization of torment. Joined State's law contains no arrangement allowing generally denied demonstrations of torment or other barbarous, cruel or debasing treatment or discipline to be utilized on grounds of critical conditions (for case, amid a

Abuse is behaviour towards a person which deliberately or unintentionally causes harm to them. It is a violation of an individual’s human and civil rights and in the worst cases can result in death.

Definition: Any action forced or voluntary action purposely inflicting Physical or Psychological damage to a person or persons.