Is Torture Ever Acceptable Essay

Tortures comprised an integral part of the way of obtaining information in the past, especially in the time of warfare. However, cases of tortures still occur today and they involve not only undemocratic regimes but also such renowned democracies such as the US. Tortures were traditionally used as the ultimate tool to obtain information fast but today, ethical concerns grow stronger and the use of tortures is legally banned. Nevertheless, when law enforcement and security agencies need to obtain the information fast, they still return to the traditional use of torture to obtain the information fast. The use of torture is traditionally justified by the prevention of greater crimes but the greater crime cannot be prevented with the help of the minor crime, which is torture. This is why torture is legally banned and torture is never acceptable because the crime, which is torture, can never lead to positive outcomes which are possible effects of torture that may prevent other crimes. Instead, torture is absolutely unacceptable and it should never be applied because torture is a crime that can never justify its ends since by committing a crime one multiples crimes rather than prevents them.

First, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that torture is the crime from the legal and ethical point of view. From the legal point of view torture is a crime just like any other. Therefore, information obtained in the course of the torture can never be accepted as the valid evidence acceptable in the court. This is why from the legal perspective torture is pointless because any information obtained with the help of torture cannot be accepted by court or law enforcement agencies. Tortures are illegal in many states, including both democratic and undemocratic ones. Nevertheless, cases of tortures occur in both democratic and undemocratic states. However, the place of commitment of tortures does not make them any more valid from the legal point of view.

Similarly, torture is unacceptable from the ethical perspective. For example, when viewed from the deontological perspective, torture breaks existing moral and ethical rules and norms. Therefore, torture is unacceptable from the ethical perspective (Nguyen 61). Even if ends are noble and ethically correct, torture is still unethical and unacceptable means that cannot be used to obtain target and ethically correct ends. Instead, if tortures are used, ends becomes unethical too because torture contradicts to ethical norms and principles. The violation of a\basic ethical norms and principles makes torture absolutely unacceptable from the ethical point of view.

Second, torture is unacceptable because it is a highly subjective method of investigation that relies on information forced out of suspects rather than told or revealed by suspects benevolently. To put it more precisely, the use of torture involves the use of violent actions, either physical or psychological or both that focus on obtaining information from suspects in violent and forceful ways (Marshall 158). In such a situation, suspects are ready to reveal any information investigators want them to reveal and often suspects tell exactly what investigators want to hear from them. As a result, there is no accuracy or objectivity in information obtained with the help of torture.

In addition, torture is unacceptable because such methods undermine the confidence of the public in the fairness of the justice system. If the justice system obtains facts and information with the help of torture then basic human rights can be neglected. This is why such methods are absolutely unacceptable in any democratic society. The use of torture is unacceptable in terms of the respect to human rights as well as in terms of the accuracy of the information obtained in the course of the torture. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that the information obtained in the course of the investigation is not accurate because suspects are forced to provide the information out of fear of physical sufferings or threat of such sufferings being caused to them (Reyes 595). As a result, they provide investigators with any information they like, whenever they apply torture. In such a situation, the public can never be certain that the information provided by investigators or obtained by investigators from suspects is fair and accurate. Instead, the public will just not trust investigators. What is more important, as torture is the crime, then law enforcement agencies using tortures will become criminals in the public eye that will have the destructive impact on their public image.

Therefore, one of the main arguments against torture is the lack of accuracy and objectivity of the investigation because suspects just tell what investigators want them to tell. Investigators just force suspects to tell whatever they want. For example, if a suspect is accused of committing a murder, investigators can just use a torture to force the suspect to admit that he/she is guilty and has committed the crime. However, such information has nothing to do with reality and real facts about the crime. There is no factual evidence that the suspect has committed the crime. Instead, it is just the confession of the suspect based on the torture which forced him/her to admit that he/she is guilty and responsible for the crime. If the information obtained by investigators is inaccurate and obtained in the illegal way, then such information has no value for the court and the justice system.

The main counter argument against the total ban of torture is the belief that torture can prevent mass murders or larger crimes. However, this argument is inconsistent because no one can be certain that the information obtained in the course of the torture is true. In other words, torture leads to outcomes desired by the torturer. This means that the torture receives just what he/she wants in the course of the torture. Therefore, tortures may prevent crimes that has never been even planned to be committed but existed in minds and aspirations of investigators rather than in minds of suspects. In other words, tortures lead to the investigation to non-existent crimes that may never exist at all. This is why this argument for the use of tortures in unacceptable.

Furthermore, torture does not lead to the truth since torture does not provide investigators with the objective information about the crime and facts relates to crimes or other issues investigated by means of torture. Instead, torture leads to the collection of the subjective information, when investigators collect the target data to obtain the target information, regardless of what suspects actually know or can uncover for investigators. They just tell what investigators want them to tell. In such a situation, it is investigators, who are the main source of information than suspects. Therefore, the information obtained from investigators is absolutely irrelevant to the information related to particular crimes. This is why the use of tortures is absolutely pointless, while arguments for tortures are inconsistent.

Arguments of proponents of torture stand on the ground that torture can save many lives by means of the early prevention of the crime prepared by suspects. However, the main problem of this argument is that no one can be certain in the accuracy and adequacy of information obtained with the help of torture. Suspects just tell what investigators what to hear from them rather than what they really know (Yamey 346). This is why crimes prevented with the help of tortures are often fictional and they would never happen, if investigators have never used the torture and actually urged the suspect to invent crimes he/she is accused of. The prevention of crimes is possible, when investigators obtain real objective facts rather than facts forced out of suspects, which may and often do have nothing in common with the reality,

Thus, the use of tortures is absolutely unacceptable from legal and ethical perspectives because tortures are crimes and they rather multiply crimes than prevent them. In this regard, there are several arguments against tortures. First, tortures are legally banned that make their application by law enforcement agencies a crime that undermines the confidence of the public in law enforcement agencies and their methods of investigation. Also, tortures lead to the revelation of inaccurate information that may not be relevant to the real factual information. Suspects are just forced to reveal the information investigators want them to reveal rather than the information suspects really have. In such a situation, arguments of proponents of torture are absolutely inconsistent and irrelevant. Such arguments neglect basic legal and ethical norms. They also fail to respect the accuracy of the investigation and information collected in the course of the investigation. This is why torture is absolutely unacceptable.

Works Cited:

Marshall, John. John Locke, Toleration and Early Enlightenment Culture. Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2006. 

Nguyen, L. “The question of survival: the death of desire and the weight of life”. Am J Psychoanal 67 (1), 2007, 53–67.

 Reyes, Hernan. “The Worst Scars are in the Mind: Psychological Torture”. The International Review of the Red Cross 89 (867), 2007, 591–617. 

Yamey, Gavin. “Torture: European Instruments of Torture and Capital Punishment from the Middle Ages to Present”. British Medical Journal, 323, 11 August 2011, 346.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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