Torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties.
However, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many Western countries abolished the official use of torture in the judicial system, although it continued to be used throughout the world.
[6][7][8] Most legal systems include agents acting on behalf of the state, and some definitions add non-state armed groups, organized crime, or private individuals working in state-monitored facilities (such as hospitals).
[24][25][26] Because medieval judges used an exceptionally high standard of proof, they would sometimes authorize torture when circumstantial evidence tied a person to a capital crime if there were fewer than the two eyewitnesses required to convict someone in the absence of a confession.
[40] Torture was widely used by colonial powers to subdue resistance and reached a peak during the anti-colonial wars in the twentieth century.
[61][42] Voters may support violence against out-groups seen as threatening; majoritarian institutions are ineffective at preventing torture against minorities or foreigners.
[49][76] Most perpetrators do not volunteer to be torturers;[49] many have an innate reluctance to employ violence, and rely on coping mechanisms, such as alcohol or drugs.
[65] Once a torture program is begun, it is difficult or impossible to prevent it from escalating to more severe techniques and expanding to larger groups of victims, beyond what is originally intended or desired by decision-makers.
[85] Torture and specific techniques spread between different countries, especially by soldiers returning home from overseas wars, although this process is poorly understood.
[19] A common practice in countries with dysfunctional justice systems or overcrowded prisons is for police to apprehend suspects, torture them, and release them without a charge.
It discriminatorily targets minorities and marginalized groups and may be supported by the public, especially if people do not trust the official justice system.
[118] In the twentieth century, well-known examples include the Khmer Rouge[115] and anti-communist regimes in Latin America, who tortured and murdered their victims as part of forced disappearance.
[121] Research has found that state torture can extend the lifespan of terrorist organizations, increase incentives for insurgents to use violence, and radicalize the opposition.
In 1764, Italian reformer Cesare Beccaria denounced torture as "a sure way to acquit robust scoundrels and to condemn weak but innocent people".
[152] The prohibition of torture motivated a shift to methods that do not leave marks to aid in deniability and to deprive victims of legal redress.
[153][154] As they faced more pressure and scrutiny, democracies led the innovation in clean torture practices in the early twentieth century; such techniques diffused worldwide by the 1960s.
[158] They may be either unsystematic[159] or focused on a specific part of the body, as in falanga (the soles of the feet), repeated strikes against both ears, or shaking the detainee so that their head moves back and forth.
[166] Other torture techniques include sleep deprivation, overcrowding or solitary confinement, withholding of food or water, sensory deprivation (such as hooding), exposure to extremes of light or noise (e.g., musical torture),[167] humiliation (which can be based on sexuality or the victim's religious or national identity),[168] and the use of animals such as dogs to frighten or injure a prisoner.
[169][170] Positional torture works by forcing the person to adopt a stance, putting their weight on a few muscles, causing pain without leaving marks, for example standing or squatting for extended periods.
[171] Rape and sexual assault are universal torture methods and frequently instill a permanent sense of shame in the victim and in some cultures, humiliate their family and society.
[181] Circumstances such as housing insecurity, family separation, and the uncertainty of applying for asylum in a safe country strongly impact survivors' well-being.
[186] Common psychological problems affecting survivors include traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance.
[192] The effects of torture are one of several factors that usually result in inconsistent testimony from survivors, hampering their effort to be believed and secure either refugee status in a foreign country or criminal prosecution of the perpetrators.
[193] Although there is less research on the effects of torture on perpetrators,[194] they can experience moral injury or trauma symptoms similar to the victims, especially when they feel guilty about their actions.
[208] Public opinion is most favorable to torture, on average, in countries with low per capita income and high levels of state repression.
[215] Shocked by Nazi atrocities during World War II, the United Nations drew up the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibited torture.
[218][219] Some contemporary philosophers argue that torture is never morally acceptable; others propose exceptions to the general rule in real-life equivalents of the ticking time-bomb scenario.
[49] The prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm (jus cogens) in international law, meaning that it is forbidden for all states under all circumstances.
[228] Even when it is illegal under national law, judges in many countries continue to admit evidence obtained under torture or ill treatment.
[252][253] Political scientist Darius Rejali criticizes torture prevention research for not figuring out "what to do when people are bad; institutions broken, understaffed, and corrupt; and habitual serial violence is routine".
