Torture and Ethics

Even if someone deserved to be tortured, which many who are illegally tortured do not, nobody has the right to harm another human being with the intention of causing the maximum pain. Torture is the ultimate violation of another human being’s basic human rights. It will absolutely never be okay nor never justified. “It is been widely practiced, though its use has

Automatically you will have the majority of the population against this idea. However when you add the intent behind the torture, which, in this case is to prevent acts of terrorism. The term “terrorism” is added to the equation, this term has an equally horrific image associated with it. This will have some people re-thinking their assumptions of torture under these specific circumstances.

Others may take a more utilitarian view, that torture is wrong because it results in suffering for the tortured and fear for the general populace, who have to live every day with the possibility that they might be arrested mistakenly as a terrorist and subjected to torture to extract information they don't know. After all, from a legal perspective, a 'suspected terrorist' is by definition an innocent man - if he's suspected, he hasn't been convicted - and if you have a regime which tortures suspects, that means you have a regime which can torture anyone, for any reason. Utilitarians might, however, support torture if it the considerable evils of torture were truly lesser than the evils that

Torture is a violation of human rights. According to Noah Bierman’s article, Many accused of torture at Abu Ghraib have faced no consequences, “When people look at others who are naked, they feel like they’re animals in a zoo, in addition to be termed as criminals and terrorist, he said. That had a very strong psychological impact. The plaintiffs also say

Torture in its basic essence began long ago. Civilizations have tortured many who have wronged them for thousands of years. The definition of torture is a broad and diverse as it includes mental, emotional, and physical aspects. From ancient Egypt, to medieval times and even to present day, torture has been a prevalent theme across cultures, and has undoubtedly helped to mold the society around us. This hotly debated issue has been on the forefront of

Torture has been around for a long time. However, most countries in the world have supposedly stopped using it as an interrogation technique. In fact, it is outlawed by: the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United National Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and many other international conventions. Also, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court says that “torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” are war crimes and crimes against humanity (What does the law). In his essay “A Case for Torture,” though, Michael Levin argues that a case for using

You live in America a country of freedom and human rights but all within variation, so imagine this. Some foreigner coming into your country and torturing you just because you were american, how would you react. The tortue rate is higher than ever with all the terrorist groups going on around the world and with that comes innocent lives taken for personal gain. Some call it torture with a purpose trying to gain “national information” but all it really is cruel and inhumane . although torture has helped in a few cases it has done more damage than help.

Torture is condemned by worldwide consensus through documents such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Mappes, Zembaty & DeGrazia, 2012, p. 345). Torture involves detaining someone suspected of planning violent acts or who may know of such plans, thereby violating the individual’s right to liberty (p. 384). It is also defined by extreme interrogation techniques that cause mental or physical pain, such as simulated drowning or Alan Dershowitz’s example of poking sterile needles under fingernails to get information (p. 345). Generally speaking, ethical theories would condemn torture.

The circumstances that would be acceptable are if you know for sure that they are suspected of a war crime or is involved with terrorists. Unacceptable circumstances would be if you do not have crucial evidence against this person to charge them and kidnap them and torture them for evidence that they may not even have. The point of torturing is to get evidence right? So if they don 't have any, what was the point ? You would have wasted your time, while the real terrorist is out there plotting against the US. Admittedly torture is not okay if you do not have crucial evidence that the person is guilty and has evidence that can help you protect millions of civilians from another terrorists attack.

Torture is a heinous crime to anyone who is put under the duress of those who either get enjoyment or use it as a device for information gathering. In recent years it has been more in use as a focal point with the recent killings of aid and social workers in the Middle East and travelers that enter North Korea to state a message or obtain information. If the rules of the Geneva Convention do not apply, then what rules do apply?

To begin, torture is the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, both physically and mentally on a person for the purposes of gaining a confession, punishment, intimidation, discrimination, to please the torturer or others, to destroy opponents without killing them, or for any other purpose by a public official (Majima, 2012). Torture usually results in both physical and psychological consequences (Mark A. Costazo, 2009). According to the journal article by Mark Costanzo and Ellen Gerrity, “Torture has been used for thousands of years” (Mark A. Costazo, 2009). It is still used today throughout the world (Mark A. Costazo, 2009). Victims of torture are at the mercy of their torturers, requiring that the victim be unable to shield themselves, unable to escape, and unable to fight back (Sussman, 2005). The torturer is someone that can essentially do anything they would like to the victim without any resistance, both legally and physically (Sussman, 2005). The torturer also acts on his/her own behalf or the behalf of an agency based on desires of both the torturer and

Torture is a crime against humanity when a state uses torture against a population, then the international community can identify this country committees a crime against humanity. The term of torture means any act by which intense ache or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as getting from him or a third person information. This definition of torture bring from convention against torture.

One reason for the justification for the prohibition is that torture can have serious long-term health issue far after the ordeal has passed. Physical torture is one thing but psychological torture is something that can never be forgotten. Torture can affect the brain, affecting people’s thinking capabilities, cause PTSD, depression, and anxiety, these psychological traumas could turn into physical pain and manifest as diseases. Another major reason for the prohibition is that it is a violation of everyone’s human rights. When one is tortured they have endured one of the most heinous things one individual can do to another human being. Torture strips individuals of their dignity and humanity and because of it, individuals are unable to fully

An important reason why torture should not be used is because it is simply illegal. Torture is a violation of the human rights law. This law passed

Torture, an act of punishing people by harming them physically or psychologically. Recently, a lot of debates have been arguing about torture and of course, laws have been set in order to control the use of torture. However, torture is not completely banned, or I should say nowadays there is people still resort to torture. Even in those liberal democratic communities like Canada and the United States are still using torture as a tool in order to get information. Hence, there are people that are against torture and suggest that the use of torture should be completely banned. However, there are people that argue torture should be used under some circumstances. Recently there is a debate between two authors on torture. The two authors are: Charles Krauthammer, who suggests that torture should not be completely banned (2005); and Andrew Sullivan, who suggests that torture, should