The United Nations Convention Against Torture, Inhuman Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment: What Is A Good?

First and foremost, the definition of torture is unclear. The United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person” for several reasons. These reasons include the accumulation of information, the instillation of fear, the elicitation of a confession, and punishment. Even if the United Nation’s definition was irrefutable, some practices clearly violate the law while other torture tactics are questionable. A more traditional definition of torture revolves around physical pain. The Bybee Memo, written while George W. Bush was in office, states “physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of

The inflictors viewed the tortured not as human, but as objects. Committing heinous and degrading crimes strips their sense of integrity. It strips them of their conscience, diminishing their morality. Harming others may harm one’s own self. The inflictors, once patriotic citizens, become sadists. Studies of those who torture provide insight into how step-by-step training “can transform ordinary people into people who can and will torture others,” (Costanzo, Gerrity, and Lykes 14). The torturers, abandoning their moral institutions, become acclimated with the acts of hurting another human being. Their actions are justified and they are given authority to execute these crimes. On another note, if terrorists are not engaging in torturous acts, they may claim that they hold higher moral institutions for their actions. If they are not committing these crimes, they might assert a moral dominance over those who do commit these crimes. Disregarding moral standards is detrimental to the inflictor and the