ipl-logo

Is Torture Good Or Bad

1228 Words5 Pages

Once there was an evil person who had given up on his life; therefore, he decided to take revenge for himself. He planned for days, months and years for placing a bomb in a place where it will explode and kill many people. Unfortunately, the evil person was caught and was tortured so he would surrender and tell the interrogator about the place of the bomb. After being tortured, the evil person revealed to the interrogator about the location of the bomb. Lives were saved and people lived happily. However, this does not happen in the real world. Torture is not an effective method for national security. Torturing people for the sake of national security has been a controversial topic for centuries. According to Gordon, torture was used for the slaves by ancient Greeks and Romans (2014, p.19). Torture by definition is “[a]ny act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is …show more content…

Although many people believe that torture could save the lives of many innocent people and is a moral act, torture is not effective in obtaining information, is against basic human rights, is an uncivilized act, and is not always targeting terrorists. Many people believe that torturing criminals, terrorists and extremists could help save the human beings’ lives that might be at risk. According to Hozler, torture is an action that must be acceptable in the case of a ticking bomb in order to save the lives of innocent human beings (2005, p.16). After being tortured and objected to extreme pain, the extremist could break down and reveal information. This might be true in some, rare cases, but is the information obtained reliable? How is torture helpful if there is the possibility of ending the life of the extremist during the interrogation? According to Evans, the case of a ticking bomb is

Show More
Related
185 Words | 1 Pages

In the article “The Case for Torture”, Michael Levin argues that the use of torture as a way to save lives is justifiable and necessary. Levin draws a series of cases where torture might be acceptable so as to set certain precedent for the justification of torture in more realistic cases. HoweverLevin illustrates three cases where torture might be justifiable.he describes a terrorist keeping city of millions hostage to an atomic bomb, the second, a terrorist who has implanted remote bombs on a plane and the third, a terrorist who has kidnapped a baby. torture and its consequences have been recorded in countries around of world over a vast span of time, and for a variety of reasons. Levin makes no such attempt to expand his article beyond

Read More
1694 Words | 7 Pages

Alan Dershowitz begins his article “ Should the Ticking Bomb Terrorist Be Tortured” by questioning whether one person can be tortured to save the lives of many others. Dershowitz displays both sides of the argument before shifting the question. Dershowitz asserts that the question is not if torture should be used on a ticking bomb terrorist, rather the question is whether the torture is done openly under a legal framework or secretly and illegally. He then simplifies the conflict to the prioritization of values. While the argument that Dershowitz constructs seems to leave very little room for disagreement, there are ways in which to collapse his entire premise.

Read More
699 Words | 3 Pages

Mahatma Gandhi, the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement states “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” This is important because torture is brutal on the body and mind. The article “Torture’s Terrible Toll” by John McCain is more convincing then the article “The Case for Torture” by Michael Levin because McCain provides more logical reasoning, he adds his own personal experience of being a captured prisoner during the Vietnam War, and he creates an emotional bond with people around the world. Through more logical reasoning McCain Argument is more valid than Levin.

Read More
146 Words | 1 Pages

Bob Brecher’s argument is centered around being a counter-claim to Dershowitz’ Ticking Bomb scenario. The counter-claim argues that a ticking bomb scenario, as described by Dershowtiz, is unlikely to occur in the real world, due to the difficulty in apprehending a terrorist after the terrorist plot has been set in motion, but has not yet been fully executed. Even if the authorities are lucky enough to apprehend the suspect before the ticking bomb has been set to detonate, it is improbable that torture would result in the suspect revealing the plot before the bomb goes off. Brecher additionally argues that Dershowitz’ idea of using legalized torture warrants to limit torture would, on the contrary, lead to the abuse of the torture warrant system.

Read More
1579 Words | 7 Pages

It is very difficult to get dangerous people to talk, so we use dangerous methods to get them to talk. Getting all the information from prisoners, terrorists, gangsters, and mobsters held by the CIA is crucial to saving American lives. After the Boston Marathon bombing one of the suspects escaped from the scene and the other was caught by police, the one that was held by the CIA was tortured until he spoke of his brother’s hideout where police shot and killed the terrorist. Without torture there would still be a terrorist running free on the streets of Boston. In 2011 the CIA

Read More
971 Words | 4 Pages

The author believes that the thoughts of enlightened societies are unwise and ascertains that there are situations whereby torture becomes morally mandatory in dealing with terrorists.

Read More
1050 Words | 5 Pages

Applebaum has plenty of evidence to back up her claim that physical torture is not effective, and there are many other ways to obtain information. While the fear-encouraging and questioning elements are potent to many who are afraid of terror committed against them, but when the overwhelming sentiment of Levin’s argument is being compared to the logic and ethical points of Applebaum it is clear to see the superiority of her argument. Although Levin would advocate for physical torture in extreme situations, one must expect extreme consequences. Physical torture is rarely effective, violates rights, and damages a whole nation’s credibility. This is why physical torture should not be

Read More
208 Words | 1 Pages

Anne Applebaum states “The really interesting question is not whether torture works but why so many people in our society want to believe it works.” Applebaum is against the use of torture as she questions its effectiveness. America has operated under the false pretense that torture is a viable option for obtaining information. She argues that torture damages the country’s image and does little to acquire useful intelligence. Torture is merely a way for officers to take their anger and frustration out on detainees.

Read More
1088 Words | 5 Pages

In medieval times, torture was used to punish criminals, deter crime, and gather information. There were many different types of tortures, most of which were brutal and painful. At the time, torture was deemed necessary to maintain order. Laws were harsh and torture was severe, but effective form of punishment. Despite its effectiveness, torture was often an unfair and extremely cruel punishment, and should have been eliminated in all forms.

Read More
776 Words | 4 Pages

Sometimes Enhanced Interrogation does not even work because detainee can give misleading information so that they will stop the pain. Sometimes our government detain an innocent person and then

Read More
1032 Words | 5 Pages

Krauthammer’s main arguments to justify torture centers on the ticking-bomb scenario, which occurs when the interrogator only has a few minutes to find out the location of an attack or the place of the bomb (Moser et al. 2016). Krauthammer argues that there is no

Read More
962 Words | 4 Pages

As this article mentions many people do believe that torture works as nobody could resist the physical and mental torture people are put through. In reality most successful cases have been done by psychology experts using other methods. They used human knowledge and applied it to the interrogation. Moskalenko, Sophia. " Great Minds Think Alike: Psychology Of An Effective Interrogation."

Read More
1055 Words | 5 Pages

Dershowitz argues that there are two ways to deal with a ticking bomb terrorist, besides doing nothing and letting innocent people die. These options include continuing to torture behind closed door or to utilize torture and make this information open to the

Read More
1082 Words | 5 Pages

Most of the time when someone is tortured it is because the interrogators are desperate for Important or valuable information. However, why would real “terrorist” give up valuable information that would expose their cause and what they believe in when they know they are going to die one way or the other. This just goes to show that the “suspected terrorist” are in fact suspected and aren’t real terrorist and shouldn’t be

Read More
890 Words | 4 Pages

In 2003 the US military relied on the confession taken from Sheikh al-Libi in which it was claimed that Iraq supplied both chemical and biological weapons to Al Qaeda. This testimony was used in the month leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Later al-Libi retracted his statement saying that he did so in order to make the torture stop. This is a clear example of the ineffectiveness of torture and the bad consequences it can often produce. The CIA had forgotten its own conclusion, sent to congress in 1989, that ‘inhumane physical or psychological techniques are counterproductive because they do not produce intelligence and will probably result in false answers.’

Read More

More about Is Torture Good Or Bad

Related Topics

Open Document