Why Torture Is Not Effective

Introduction

Torture may also be inflicted out of love of Cruelty, but it can be distinguished from sadism, in that it need not involve sexual overtones or motivation. Organs of the state may resort to torture, quite apart from and in addition to what must be conceded to be its recurrent use in ordinary police interrogations. In the past, with official sanction, torture was sometimes an overt instrument of state policy; today, when most state constitutions bar it, it exists in places as a covert instrument of policy enforcement, aimed at eliminating or intimidating political opponents. In this regard, its use seems often to be counterproductive, through fostering increased opposition and zeal among those whose opposition the torturers are trying to eliminate and those who come to learn of the torturers' activities.

Torture is the deliberate infliction of pain for pain's sake. It can be used to punish and intimidate or to gather information, and has been put to use to achieve these ends for the entire recorded history of human civilization. The Code of Hammurabi, dated 1750 b.c., threatens death by torture by means of fire, water, or impaling. Crucifixion, used to execute Jesus in a.d. 33, was a form of public torture routinely used to punish Jewish revolutionaries who opposed the Roman order. Even today, laws decreeing death by torture are frighteningly common in many parts of the world. This paper discusses why torture is not effective.

Discussion

Torturers use many techniques to achieve several main goals. The most obvious intention of torture is breaking down an individual both physically and mentally (frequently for military or political purposes). Secondly, torturers seek to spread collective fear throughout a particular community or culture in which the victim lives. Finally, the torturer seeks to deeply humiliate the victim's society and community. The goal of torture is essentially to render the victim nonhuman. (Crelinsten 2005)

One important act of torture, for example, that has only recently been recognized as such is rape, a frequently used torture practice during periods of conflict and genocide. A group with a particular agenda often executes systematic or wanton rape and sexual violence knowing that the long-term effects of this experience will be devastating to both the individual and his or her community. However, rape was only recognized globally as an act of torture after the international appraisal of violence that occurred in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda.

The victory of the abolitionists, however, was shortlived. Although judges no longer needed torture to secure confessions, the police, army, and other security agencies used torture during the nineteenth century to obtain information to help prevent future crimes. Many of the early cases involved national security and spies, but over time torture spread to encompass routine law enforcement activities. More recently, torture has been debated as a means to combat international terrorism. (Downie 2003)

Because modern torturers are often concerned about the quality of the information they obtain, they are more sensitive than their medieval counterparts to the possibility that victims will lie ...