“Ahhh, please, please stop it! Just make it stop I’ll tell you anything! Please,” Ella screams. She tries telling the attackers the truth but, they don’t believe her. The pain is unbearable so she decides to lie and tell them exactly what they want to hear. Torture is pointless because people will lie in order for the pain to stop and the interrogators have no strategy to know if it is a lie or the truth, it impairs memory, and the interrogators can be torturing people who are truly not involved. For these reasons, torture is ineffective at guaranteeing a truthful confession and should be banned as an information gathering strategy. Numerous people believe that if someone knows information that puts them in a situation of being tortured then, they must deserve it anyway. Others simply believe that everyone has a breaking point where if one does enough to someone, they will end up telling the truth. It can also be viewed that torture is for the greater good. They feel as though the torture and pain of a few people is better than the “possible” murder of innocent civilians (Mackler). Plenty of people are under the impression that those who are tortured do not receive any serious permanent damage. Torturing someone will rarely ever help a situation. People will do whatever it takes in order to not be in pain, it’s natural human instinct. Anyone is capable of lying and saying what they believe the prosecutor wants to hear. The detainees can stall for time through giving false
There is a fine line between taking the enemy captive as part of war and torturing them. I believe that during war it is inevitable that people are going to be held captive as part of war, but there is some sort of humanity that needs to be upheld at the end of the day. There are many international treaties such as the Geneva Convention that many nations are a part of. The idea behind the convention is to make sure that all of the nations are on board with one another on how they are going to treat people. The problem is that most other nations besides the United States have a different mindset of how they operate and how they believe people should be treated in situations of war or high profile people. Most people would like to live in the United States because of all of the rights everyone has here in the country.
When torturing the person is treated as a thing rather than a human being. Regardless the circumstances, torture is never the way to go. It violates individuals rights and dignity. There are plenty of other better ways to obtain information from suspected terrorists that is less tragic. People can be tortured for little to no apparent reason at all. Some individuals are brought up at an early age to believe that terrorist methods are correct and that they should fight for what they love. Torturing suspected terrorist means that you are taking an unnecessary chance in torturing the wrong person. New techniques must be established. The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that cruel and unusual punishments should not be allowed. Torture is an act of violence that requires the use of many cruel and unusual punishments. When torturing no lessons are learned, no modesty gained and no moral principles are
Torture is known as the intentional infliction of either physical or psychological harm for the purpose of gaining something – typically information – from the subject for the benefit of the inflictor. Normal human morality would typically argue that this is a wrongful and horrendous act. On the contrary, to deal with the “war on terrorism” torture has begun to work its way towards being an accepted plan of action against terrorism targeting the United States. Terroristic acts perpetrate anger in individuals throughout the United States, so torture has migrated to being considered as a viable form of action through a blind eye. Suspect terrorists arguably have basic human rights and should not be put through such psychologically and physically damaging circumstances.
Torture has been a sensitive subject in our government and among the people of the US. The article “Torture is Wrong-But it Might Work” Bloche about how even though torture is not moral to some, it can still provide effective results because of advanced techniques and psychological studies. He goes on to say that many believe it is effective but others will say it does not provide adequate results in interrogation efforts. Senators such as John McCain (R-Ariz.) believe it does not help at all; however, other government officials, such as former attorney general Michael Mukasey and former vice president Dick Cheney, believe it does (Bloche 115).
Torture is commonly practiced all over the world, but most notably in the Guantánamo bay detention center in Cuba. It is most commonly used on prisoners of war to obtain useful enemy information, but it is not limited to that as it is practiced in normal prisons and jails. After experiencing torture, people don’t possess the same mindset. These (cruel ) sessions of
Torture is one of the most extreme methods of eliciting information; unfortunately, it has been used for centuries and is still prevalent worldwide.
Many opinions have been historically perceived on modern debates about the moral principles of torture. Torture has been carried out or sanctioned by individuals, groups, and states throughout history from ancient times to modern day, and forms of torture can vary greatly in duration from only a few minutes to several days or longer. (Torture, 2016). Torture is the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty. (Torture, 2016). Now that we have an idea behind the meaning of torture, we need to know if it is ethical. Ethical can be described as fair, legitimate or moral. All and all, is torture the right thing to do? Let’s take a look at some of the reviews of those that are skilled professionals in discussing if it is just or permissible to use torture.
In regard to physical torture, according to Ashley McCulley: It is common for torturers to use various techniques in order to prevent scarring and evidence of torture. The after-effects that torture causes are from the repeated intrusion and attack of one’s mind. (Bufacchi & Arrigo) The second premise is proven to be strong because first-hand evidence shows that information that is gathered as a result of torture is false information or a false confession. People will say anything to make the torturing stop if only for a little while. (As cited in Bufacchi & Arrigo) during the Vietnam War Commander James Stockdale ordered the other American Prisoners of War to ‘resist to the point of permanent injury or loss of mental faculty, and then fall back on deceit and distortion’. Also, it has been proven that captives may produce false information without knowing that it is false. The production of misinformation often happens when the captive is deemed “expendable”
Maria, I agreed with you on some points. Howeve,r I think that torture will not always lead to the truth. First, the US is a country that respects human rights, and torture is a method that goes against human rights. Torture someone will not always lead to the true. Some people lie just because they are being tortured by giving false information. Furthermore, torture can lead to death and maybe the person being torture is the only one that can provide the information needed. I believe that there is another way out to find the true. I agree with you that sometimes innocent people are tortured just because they suspect that they can provide some information that can lead to the one needed.
In a case where innocent people are tortured we must realize that there’s no 100% success rate in life. Sometimes, an innocent person will be brought in and tortured, and we must find ways to resolve this. The government would have to make amends by giving them support, emotionally, financially, and any other way necessary. The only way people would be able to sleep at night after torturing an innocent person is because at some point, torture will help save thousands of lives for Americans. However, with correct training we could limit these scenarios to a far lower number than they are
In the late twelfth century, the inquisitional procedure was introduced to papal legislation with the purpose of controlling those who strayed from the church. In inquisitional procedure, the court is directly involved in investigation. This eventually extended to secular (nonreligious) crime as well.
There are very strong arguments that torture is a poor and unreliable vehicle for discovering truth, as the people being tortured are extremely likely to make anything up in order to stop the physical pain and can become unable to tell the difference between fact and fiction under extreme psychological distress. There is very little information or factual academic or medical research in favor of torture in the interrogation processes, and whether or not the information obtained using torture methods would ultimately prove to be valuable. There is a however a plethora of information regarding moral, constitutional and legal interrogation methods and specific guidelines for the interrogators to follow that have been in use for quite some time and have proved to be extremely beneficial. Numerous human rights organizations, professional and academic experts, and military and intelligence leaders have absolutely rejected the idea that torture is legal or an acceptable and reliable form of intelligence gathering.
Torture has a profound psychological impact on the victim, as well as the abuser. For thousands of years, torture has been used to punish, degrade, to intimidate and inflict fear. The word “torture” brings to minds scenarios of someone inflicting intense physical pain on
The use of torture has been the subject of debate for centuries. With the growth of terrorism in recent years, the debate has become hotter as people justify torture or forbid it. There is no question, however, that the use of torture on captured criminals has reduced potential attacks on innocent civilians. Idebate.org contests that “With the use of modern technologies by intelligence services and the co-operation and exchanges of information between different intelligence agencies around the world, the likelihood of catching the wrong person has slimmed significantly.” This means that the terrorist in question is almost certainly the culprit. It is reasonable that torture be used on people that have homicidal intentions. Torture is necessary in today’s society due to the increase of violence because terrorists disregard the law, the time-ticking bomb scenario, and the fact that torture can deter other potential terrorists.
Nations have tortured, both within and without their own citizenry, for thousands of years. The act of systematically inflicting severe harm on a human being for the benefit of others has been met with varying degrees of success.