Is Torture Good? | Teen Ink

Is Torture Good?

February 5, 2010
By kingopion500 BRONZE, Munnsville, New York
kingopion500 BRONZE, Munnsville, New York
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Torture is defined as causing physical or mental pain. It is often used to obtain information or punish a person. It has been around for 2000 years dating back to ancient Greece and Rome. However is it still acceptable.

Lately there have been no one saying that torture is okay if it is okay to torture someone if lives are at stake. On the opposite side though no one is saying that it isn’t okay to torture someone even if there are lives at stake.even if it is okay torture wont stop at one person. For example if the U.S.A. tortures a terrorist to find out where a bomb is then Al-Qaeda might torture an innocent by standing army soldier to find out army secrets.

Col. Stuart Herrigton says “Aside from it’s immortality and it’s illegality , it’s not a good way to get information.”. Although you do have unexpected reproductions like it’ll endanger our soldiers by encouraging reciprocity. Here is an excerpt by John Quiggin who wrote in the Crooked Timber: “My answer is that the torturer should’ immediately turn themselves in, and plead guilty to the relevant criminal charges. I think this answer can be defended from a wide variety of perspectives, but the intuition is simple. If the situation is grave enough to warrant resort to torture, it’s certainly grave enough to oblige someone to take actions that will result in losing their job and going to jail. In consequentialist terms, it’s desirable in general that laws against torture should be obeyed. Since few people will want to follow such an example except in similarly extreme circumstances, immediate confession will undermine the law less than committing torture and getting away with it. A plea in mitigation might be considered in cases like the one described above - a proven urgent and immediate danger, followed by a voluntary confession - but even so, the torturer should be removed from their job and spend some time in prison. In any case where a confession is not made, no claims about mitigating circumstances should be admitted”

All through this article i have been putting torture down but there are some good points to it.One good but minor point is it created a whole line of movies which entertained millions. It has saved lives that would have perished.Torture has dine some good however it doesn’t compare to the bad stuff.

Torture in itself is bad in the very essence.Although I believe that if it is absolutely necessary it is alight to use very slight but effective psychological torture but only if it is absolutely unavoidable. Also I Believe that before they go and torture someone they should get some type of torture warrant from a elected court official judge.



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