Torture Techniques
Throughout every period in history, people in society have been driven by panic and hysteria to use their faith in God as a reason to accuse, torture, and murder countless innocent people. Events in this cycle of inhumanity account for some of the darkest stains in human history. All forms of torture and punishment served as the primary means of forcing accused, inocent individuals to confess their involvement in the alleged occurrences and to reveal the names of accomplices. Throughout history, various forms of spiritual rituals, public humiliation, and pain induction, have been used to extract these false confessions from innocent individuals.
Accused heretics could be punished through spiritual purification rituals performed by the church. After being accused of being a heretic, the church considered the body and soul of that individual to be corrupted, filthy, and possessed by the deviled. Because of this, the accused would have to undergo a harsh cleansing of the body and soul. The body would be washed with fire, boiling water, and rags made from harsh material. To cleanse the soul of the individual, he or she would be forced to swallow substances meant to eliminate evil spirits. The church accomplished this by forcing the accused to swallow scalding water, fire brands, coals, and soaps. This ritual evolved into the present day concept of washing the mouth out with soap.1
Severe public humiliation was another method of extracting confessions out of accused individuals. The most common and recognizable form of public humiliation was the stocks or pillories. With the head and hands fixed in the stocks, the accused was put on display for the entire village to jest, insult, and throw things at. Many ...
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... http://www2.cybercities.com/s/shanmonster/witch/ (28 February 1999)
- Michael Norton, "Townsfolk Kill Five People of Witchcraft," Associated Press, 23
January 1996.
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... court, there are only two choices for their fate: confess to a false crime and spend time in jail for it, or don't confess and face either torture until you confess or your execution. It is a lose lose situation. This is true for every person who is tried in front of the court. People became fearful of this and they could do nothing but accuse everyone they can in order to prevent accusation of themselves.
Zacharia, Sophie1. "Death By Stoning: The Uncertain Fate Of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani." Amicus Journal 26 (2011): 21-24. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
Once the Roman occupation occurred, various sources described not just the procedure but the fear and tactic involved in crucifixion. The Romans operated in maintaining The Pax Romana, the time of peace in Rome, through “militarism and violence”. The violence of focus for this paper is their form of execution for most slaves and criminals, death by crucifixion. This form of death could be observed as a psychological control. The Romans did not merely kill the criminals, but set them to be a spectacle in one of the busiest and most crowed roads, to be observed. A deterrent effect, which rarely affected the wealthy, yet, still occupied a spot in their minds. An example, is when a nobleman in 63 B.C, was threatened with crucifixion, Ciscero in his defense, disputed that “the very mention of the cross…was intolerable for a respectable Roman citizen.” Yet this deterrent inhibited open resistance to Roman occupation, thereby maintaining their Pax Romana intact.
The aim of this paper is study the same primary sources that other historians have studied and see what conclusions if any can be drawn from them. The primary sources that will be used in this paper include but are not limited to online transcripts of the trial records, and other material written by the many historians of the years.
Why Waterboarding is Torture The US Reservations of the UN Convention against Torture defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining information from a person.” Waterboarding fits into this definition very well. In the “How to Do It” article, waterboarding is described as filling up the upper respiratory system with water, causing both physical and mental pain. This causes the person being tortured to feel like they are drowning without them actually dying from the drowning. For the person experiencing it, it may even be worse because the article states that “his suffering must be that of a man who is drowning, but cannot drown,” so it is never ending.
Torture is one of the most extreme methods of eliciting information; unfortunately, it has been used for centuries and is still prevalent worldwide.
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, were used in previous administrations. The techniques were considered at the very least to be cruel and inhuman. Among these are attention strikes and stress positions. The techniques violate human rights as well as detainee rights. There are few serious arguments for the retention of enhanced interrogation. The most compelling is the "ticking time bomb theory." This theory is in fact based on logical fallacy. An executive order has banned the use of enhanced interrogation. It is the position of this summary that the current ban remain in effect.
Scheck, Barry, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer. Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted. New York: Random House LLC, 2000. Print.
The use of torture has always been a hot topic of moral and ethical discussion. Typically, the discussion is not about whether or not torture is good, but rather if there is ever a morally acceptable situation in which torture should be allowed to occur. Does a criminal’s deeds strip him of basic human rights and make it morally okay for him to be physically and mentally abused? Do certain situations such as war make torture acceptable? It is generally agreed upon that torture is a terrible violation of a person and their rights; the common thread among moral questions such as these is if there are any times when torture could be considered morally acceptable. In order to analyze this moral dilemma, an ethical system is commonly used as a
Torture, the most extreme form of human violence, resulting in both physical and psychological consequences. A technique of interrogation that has been proven time and time again to not only be ineffective but also a waste of time. Studies have shown that not only does torture psychologically damage the mind of the victim, but also can hurt the inflictor. If there is proof that torture is useless, why do we still use it? Torture should not be used to get information out of prisoners because of the risk of false information, enemy resistance and utter uselessness.
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain or suffering, mental or physical, on an individual to obtain information, to intimidate or for punishment. Torture is expressed in many ways, for example, rape, hard labour, electric shock, severe beatings, etc, and for this reason it is considered as cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. Therefore, it is a violation of human rights and is strictly prohibited by international law. Michael Davis and many other individuals have stated that torture is worse than murder. He claims, “Both torture and premature death are very great evils but, if one is a greater evil than the other, it is certainly torture”. With that being said, there are three major reasons to discuss, in which, torture is not morally acceptable. However, in many cases it is considered very beneficial, but the disadvantages outweighs the benefits. Firstly, bullying is a form of torture but to a lesser extent, in which it results in an individual suffering from low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, etc. In addition, torture is mainly used as a means to obtain information, however, it is an ineffective interrogation tool in which, the data given could be falsified. Lastly, torture is sometimes utilized to shatter the autonomy of individual, that is, the right to their freedom and independence, forcing the victim to succumb to the torturer’s way of thinking.
Torture is the act of inflicting severe physical or psychological pain, and/or injury to a person (or animal) usually to one who is physically restrained and is unable to defend against what is being done to them. It has ancient origins and still continues today. The torture debate is a controversial subject to modern society. Because it is such a complex subject, many debatable issues come from it. For example, many have debated whether torture is effective in obtaining the truth, affects the torturers, threatens the international standing of the United States, or undermines justice. Others include what qualifies as torture, or whether or not the United States should set an example by not torturing. The two opposing claims to this topic would be: (a) that torture should always be illegal because it is immoral and cruel and goes against the international treaties signed by the U.S. and torture and inhuman treatment, and (b) yes, torture is acceptable when needed. Why not do to terrorists what they are so good at doing to so many others?
In 1757 through 1837 there was a shift in prison rules and laws. They established a new form of law that removed torture and established punishment by the law. Punishment has many consequences because it was created to be a source to stop the criminal behavior from occurring again. However, torture was removed because it focused on a physical penalty. Foucault main point is that he wants to challenge the system by using history by explaining how the system has changed over time and how the new power and genealogy presents power and rules. Also, how the system is it affected by the power relations in punishment and the structure of society. Torture and punishment are inhumane and punishment doesn’t focus on criminal acts and focuses
Torture is the process of inflicting pain upon other people in order to force them to say something against their own will. The word “torture” comes from the Latin word “torquere,” which means to twist. Torture can not only be psychologically but mentally painful. Before the Enlightenment, it was perfectly legal to torture individuals but nowadays, it is illegal to torture anyone under any circumstances. In this essay, I will demonstrate why torture should never acceptable, not matter the condition.
Through history we understand that a confession was treated as a conviction. The use of physical torture was very rampant and was used as a means to extract confessions, and at that time all confessions were routinely admitted into evidence without question. However, gradually over the centuries, the status of confessions in the legal system shifted from the courts’ limiting the acceptability into evidence of ordinary confessions in the mid-1700s, to totally excluding compelled confessions by the mid to late 1800s. The main purpose of this essay is to examine and understand why innocent people sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit. This essay will also be looking into factors that coerce innocent suspects to give false statements and confess to crimes they did not commit during police interroga...