Why Is Torture Justified

In modern society, where human rights are highly protected, torture is considered as a hideous crime that makes us feel repugnant. In fact, in a few circumstances, as an interrogation technique, some people are of the opinion that the use of torture is justified. However, torture should still not be legalized because not only the information gathered from it is usually unreliable, but also its effects on both victims and perpetrators are unacceptable. There is no doubt that the confession extracted through torture is not always trusted. Humans, including detainees, mostly tend to avoid pain, which means they may deliver any information just to appease the tormentors instead of the accurate one. Andersen (2004), a CIA operative joined in Vietnam War,

Furthermore, it is really complicated, especially in emergencies, to measure the exact weight of the detainee’s confession. There are numerous questions posed to deal with, such as whether the suspect is the real wrongdoer, how many percentages of required information he or she possesses and the most difficult one: how to distinguish between honesty and lies. It is true that perpetrators are not always omniscient to perceive the reliability rate of the information collected. Once the interrogation starts, the torture will be inflicted on the victims till these tormentors suppose that they have gained the desired information. “Interrogators who are confident but wrong in their judgment that a suspect is lying are likely to turn to torture as a means of forcing a suspect to tell the “truth”.” (Costanzo & Gerrity, 2009, p. 185). Garrett (2011)’s study showed that more than 25% detainees wrongfully convicted but later exonerated by DNA evidence made a false confession or incriminating statement. In