Throughout human history, torture has been used to methodically obtain information by inflicting psychological or physical pain on an individual. The practice of torture has been prohibited under The United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights, which has been sanctioned by 155 nations (The United Nations, 1984). Nevertheless, the United States has ratified the use of torture as recently as 2008. The Bush administration allowed the use of torture methods in interrogations of individuals connected to the September 11th attacks and al-Qaeda. The United States was not the only nation that disobeyed the United Nation’s demand for a cease of torture tactics; countries such as England, France, India, and Russia have all turned to torture in order
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Torture was only used on slaves who would disobey their owner, or attempt to run away. It was believed that torture could only be used on members of the slave class because it was dishonorable to torture anyone who was considered “valuable to the republic” (Raviv, 2004). For many centuries, torture was a staple of every justice system. Prisoners of war, criminals, and slaves endured unimaginably grotesque punishments in order to gain military intelligence, or to simply inflict pain. It was not until the 17th century that any opinion against the act of torture was broadcasted. The idea of humanism in Europe began to denounce the English Bill of Rights in 1689, and with it condemned “cruel and unusual punishment” (Luban, 2010). Regardless, extreme methods of torture, such as boiling, castration, drowning, oxygen deprivation, tickle torture, tooth extraction, electric shock, and whippings, were used until the …show more content…
The United States was not one of the countries that admitted to it, but in light of the Guantanamo Investigation, it was apparent that the United States did indeed use torture as an interrogation tactic. Persian historian and socialist Ervand Abrahamian argues that the number of countries using torture tactics in 2005 was nowhere near 16, but was actually north of 80 (Allhoff, 2005). Post Guantanamo Bay, the United Nations made a demand that all use of torture stop instantly, and the result was immediate. The number of reported instances of torture decreased to a point where no other United Nations-affiliated country has been involved in a torture scandal since the United States (Raviv, 2004). In addition to a worldwide call for an impediment of torture, the United States government also passed Executive Order 13491 in 2009 that gave an overview of interrogation policies in order to prevent another incident like Guantanamo (Luban, 2010). From the outside, there were no longer any reports of torture cases, and there was an assumption that the world became a more civilized
Torture was only used on slaves who would disobey their owner, or attempt to run away. It was believed that torture could only be used on members of the slave class because it was dishonorable to torture anyone who was considered “valuable to the republic” (Raviv, 2004). For many centuries, torture was a staple of every justice system. Prisoners of war, criminals, and slaves endured unimaginably grotesque punishments in order to gain military intelligence, or to simply inflict pain. It was not until the 17th century that any opinion against the act of torture was broadcasted. The idea of humanism in Europe began to denounce the English Bill of Rights in 1689, and with it condemned “cruel and unusual punishment” (Luban, 2010). Regardless, extreme methods of torture, such as boiling, castration, drowning, oxygen deprivation, tickle torture, tooth extraction, electric shock, and whippings, were used until the …show more content…
The United States was not one of the countries that admitted to it, but in light of the Guantanamo Investigation, it was apparent that the United States did indeed use torture as an interrogation tactic. Persian historian and socialist Ervand Abrahamian argues that the number of countries using torture tactics in 2005 was nowhere near 16, but was actually north of 80 (Allhoff, 2005). Post Guantanamo Bay, the United Nations made a demand that all use of torture stop instantly, and the result was immediate. The number of reported instances of torture decreased to a point where no other United Nations-affiliated country has been involved in a torture scandal since the United States (Raviv, 2004). In addition to a worldwide call for an impediment of torture, the United States government also passed Executive Order 13491 in 2009 that gave an overview of interrogation policies in order to prevent another incident like Guantanamo (Luban, 2010). From the outside, there were no longer any reports of torture cases, and there was an assumption that the world became a more civilized