What would you do if someone you knew brother/sister or child was being held hostage and the person that captured them won’t tell you where they are unless you give them $5,000,000? Well for one, I doubt if many people have that much money just sitting around. And secondly don’t think the criminal will tell you he/she is keeping your loved one if you just say please. According to Michael Levin’s “The Case for Torture” torturing the individual might be the best option to get information out of them. In Levin’s column in NEWSWEEK he gave valid points on why torturing may be needed in certain situations. To continue his argument be explaining how much more effective torture is, the cost of performing torture, and in what cases should torture be used. Supposed some terrorist group kidnapped the president and they plan on killing him in 2 hours. The police capture a member of the terrorist group in 40 minutes and take him to questioning. Like Levin said (Evergreen pg. 605) “What do we do? If we follow due process-wait for his lawyer, arraign him-people
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Because of the extreme nature of torturing someone it shouldn’t be something that that is used freely. Torture should only be used when it is absolutely necessary and as a last resort. Based on the example Levin used, “suppose a terrorist has hidden an atomic bomb on Manhattan Island which will detonate at noon.” In a situation like that where time is very limited the best option would be to use torture. Sure some methods of torture are extreme but think, is the pain of one person weighed more than the lives of millions? The answer to that question should be easy. At the same time, torture should not be used for much smaller crimes compared to terrorism. For example, someone robbing a bank. Even though it is crucial to get the money back, it isn’t that extreme of a crime where it would have to result torture the culprit in order to find out where they hid
Because of the extreme nature of torturing someone it shouldn’t be something that that is used freely. Torture should only be used when it is absolutely necessary and as a last resort. Based on the example Levin used, “suppose a terrorist has hidden an atomic bomb on Manhattan Island which will detonate at noon.” In a situation like that where time is very limited the best option would be to use torture. Sure some methods of torture are extreme but think, is the pain of one person weighed more than the lives of millions? The answer to that question should be easy. At the same time, torture should not be used for much smaller crimes compared to terrorism. For example, someone robbing a bank. Even though it is crucial to get the money back, it isn’t that extreme of a crime where it would have to result torture the culprit in order to find out where they hid