Is Torture Wrong

The eighth amendment of the United States constitution states that “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (“Human Rights”). The clause about “cruel and unusual punishment” appears the most contentious phrase because in some ways the definition seems unclear. Not only does the subject matter appear debatable, but the definition of “torture” itself. The two main definitions of torture are: “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purpose as obtaining from him or her information of a confession" or “excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems” (Welna). The controversy derived

However, torture, an undefendable act because it defies the very essence of human rights, in any and all cases is unjustifiable. Human rights are birthrights extended to all humans without discrimination, some of which include: right to life, liberty, education, work, freedom from slavery, torture, and many more (“Human Rights”). In 1948 the United Nations introduced these rights in the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (Carey). Many laws prevent the government from doing certain acts that abuse human rights and the freedom of individuals and groups. However, regardless of the laws set in place to protect human rights, the U.S. government has still participated in torture, as released in the Senate’s report on U.S. torture in December 2012 (Drezner). So if people deem torture as helpful, what makes it so bad? The controversy surrounding this topic stems its basis around the fact that government torture is an ethical debate. This means that although statistics can back up the stance against torture, the answer isn 't written in black and white and is mainly

is surprisingly supportive of government torture. In the particular case study involving waterboarding, 56-24 Americans said that it produced intelligence that could have prevented terrorist attacks (Blake). Due to the flexibility of the definition of torture, some government officials don’t even consider waterboarding torture due to the fact it doesn’t equate to the loss of an organ. (Welna). In the light of the uncertainty related with waterboarding, Donald Trump, the current president, has voiced his desire to reinforce the torture technique of “waterboarding” due to its “effectiveness” (Garvey). However, many times “enhanced interrogation” produced false and misleading information (McCain). Out of the prior 56-24 Americans, 59-31 of them said that the torture inflicted was justified (Blake). Terrorism brings up the desire for torture and due to the past event of 9/11, the desire for security and safety in America has gone up drastically. Those who approved of torture techniques wanted to protect Americans and “keep faith with the victims of terrorism and to prove to [their] enemies that the United States would pursue justice relentlessly” (McCain). Compared to the previous events, it’s understandable that the U.S. has such a high torture acceptance rate, however countries around the world have margins that are much less in favor for torture, so what’s the difference?