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Torture

About: Torture is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8173 publications have been published within this topic receiving 109895 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In early 2006, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) charged a task force with examining the research on interrogations and drafting a statement for Council review.
Abstract: In early 2006, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), the society that produces Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP), charged a task force with examining the research on interrogations and drafting a statement for Council review. During the Council discussion of the proposed statement, President Shinn raised a fundamental general issue to consider, asking, “To what extent do we want to say that torture shouldn’t be done because there is research that says so, and to what extent will we say so based on an ethical point of view?” The task force report was shared with the Council at its June 2006 meeting. The report, focused on research on interrogation and confessions, was presented by task force chair Mark Costanzo, and its other members, Ellen Gerrity and M. Brinton Lykes. The report and its recommendations were endorsed by the SPSSI Council at that same meeting. The article that appears here, co-authored by Costanzo, Gerrity, and Lykes, is a revision of the task force report. Even though it is not exactly the document endorsed by the Council, it is substantively consistent with what was endorsed. Although the SPSSI Council seemed largely of one mind in support of this perspective, it has not been so for all psychologists. As a result, ASAP invited

123 citations

Book
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: Torture: A Collection as discussed by the authors brings together leading lawyers, political theorists, social scientists, and public intellectuals to debate the advisability of maintaining the absolute ban and to reflect on what it says about our societies if we do - or do not - adhere to it in all circumstances.
Abstract: Torture is perhaps the most unequivocally banned practice in the world today. Yet within six weeks after September 11, articles began appearing suggesting that torture might be "required" in order to interrogate suspected terrorists about future possibilities of violence. The United States and some of its allies are using methods of questioning relating to the war on terrorism that could be described as torture or, at the very least, as inhuman and degrading. It is known that the United States sent some suspected terrorists to allied countries that are well known to engage in torture. And in terror's wake, the use of such methods, at least under some conditions, has gained some prominent defenders. Torture: A Collection brings together leading lawyers, political theorists, social scientists, and public intellectuals to debate the advisability of maintaining the absolute ban and to reflect on what it says about our societies if we do - or do not - adhere to it in all circumstances. One important question is how we define torture at all. Are "cruel and inhumane" practices that result in profound physical or mental discomfort tolerable so long as they do not meet some definition of "torture"? And how much "transparency" do we really want with regard to interrogation practices? Is "don't ask, don't tell" an acceptable response to those who concern themselves about these practices? Addressing these questions and more, this book tackles one of the most controversial issues that we face today. The noted contributors include Ariel Dorfman, Elaine Scarry, Alan Dershowitz, Judge Richard Posner, Michael Walzer, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and other lawyers from both the United States and abroad.

122 citations

Book
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: For centuries witches on trial admitted to taking part in gruesome "sabbaths" where they cast spells, worshipped a bestial devil, enacted obscenely blasphemous rites and even devoured corpses as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: For centuries witches on trial admitted to taking part in gruesome "sabbaths" where they cast spells, worshipped a bestial devil, enacted obscenely blasphemous rites and even devoured corpses. Many scholars believe that such confessions, often enacted under torture were just a reflection of their persecutors' fantasies. Certainly as Carlo Ginzburg shows, witch hunters adapted the stereotypes earlier used to descredit and persecute lepers and Jews.

121 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Universal Jurisprudence (ULP) doctrine as discussed by the authors is a legal theory that states that some crimes are so heinous that their perpetrators should not escape justice by invoking sovereign immunity or the sacrosanct nature of national frontiers.
Abstract: In less than a decade, an unprecedented movement has emerged to submit international politics to judicial procedures. It has spread with extraordinary speed and has not been subjected to systematic debate, partly because of the intimidating passion of its advocates. To be sure, human rights violations, war crimes, genocide, and torture have so disgraced the modern age and in such a variety of places that the effort to interpose legal norms to prevent or punish such outrages does credit to its advocates. The danger lies in pushing the effort to extremes that risk substituting the tyranny of judges for that of governments; historically, the dictatorship of the virtuous has often led to inquisitions and even witch-hunts. The doctrine of universal jurisdiction asserts that some crimes are so heinous that their perpetrators should not escape justice by invoking doctrines of sovereign immunity or the sacrosanct nature of national frontiers. Two specific approaches to achieve this goal have emerged recently. The first seeks to apply the procedures of domestic criminal justice to violations of universal standards, some of which are embodied in United Nations conventions, by authorizing national prosecutors to bring offenders into their jurisdictions through extradition from third countries. The second approach is the International Criminal

121 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Paradoxically, the discipline of public health has generally ignored the societal roots of health in favour of medical interventions, which operate further downstream.

120 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023270
2022619
2021167
2020243
2019263
2018328