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[[File:Diverse torture instruments.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A variety of torture instruments including, at right, the mythical [[iron maiden (torture)|iron maiden]] of [[Nuremberg]].]]

'''Torture''' is the act of deliberately inflicting severe physical [[pain]] and possibly [[injury]] to a person (or [[animal torture|animal]]) who is physically restrained or otherwise under the torturer's control or custody, unable to defend against what is being done to them. Torture has been carried out or sanctioned by individuals, groups and states throughout history from ancient times to modern day, and forms of torture can vary greatly in duration from only a few minutes to several days or even longer. Reasons for torture can include [[punishment]], [[revenge]], political [[Brainwashing|re-education]], [[deterrence (legal)|deterrence]], [[interrogation]] or [[coercion]] of the victim or a third party, or simply the [[Sadistic personality disorder|sadistic]] gratification of those carrying out or observing the torture. The torturer may or may not intend to kill or injure the victim, but sometimes torture is deliberately fatal and can precede a [[murder]] or serve as a cruel form of [[capital punishment]]. In other cases, the torturer may be indifferent to the condition of the victim. Alternatively, some forms of torture are designed to inflict [[Psychological torture|psychological pain]] or leave as little physical injury or evidence as possible while achieving the same psychological devastation. Depending on the aim, even a form of torture that is intentionally fatal may be prolonged to allow the victim to suffer as long as possible (such as [[half-hanging]]).

Although historically torture was sanctioned by some states, torture in the 21st century is prohibited under [[international law]] and the domestic laws of most countries. It is considered to be a violation of [[human rights]], and is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the [[United Nations|UN]] [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]. Signatories of the [[Third Geneva Convention]] and [[Fourth Geneva Convention]] officially agree not to torture prisoners in armed conflicts. Torture is also prohibited by the [[United Nations Convention Against Torture]], which has been ratified by 147 countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-9&chapter=4&lang=en |title= United Nations Treaty Collection |publisher=United Nations |accessdate=7 October 2010}}</ref>

National and international legal prohibitions on torture derive from a consensus that torture and similar ill-treatment are immoral, as well as impractical.<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |url=http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT40/014/2005/en |title=Torture and Ill-Treatment in the 'War on Terror' |date=1 November 2005 |accessdate=22 October 2008 }}</ref> Despite these international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights (e.g. [[Amnesty International]], the [[International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims]]) report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world.<ref>[[Amnesty International]] [http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engPOL100012005 Report 2005] [http://web.archive.org/web/20070317170847/http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/2af-summary-eng Report 2006]</ref> Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments currently practice torture, some of them openly.<ref name="Amnesty08">{{Cite web|publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |url=http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/report-08-at-a-glance |title=Report 08: At a Glance |year=2008 |accessdate=22 October 2008 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080708202906/http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/report-08-at-a-glance |archivedate = 8 July 2008}}</ref>

==Definitions==
'''Torture''', according to the 1984 [[United Nations Convention Against Torture]] (an advisory measure of the [[UN General Assembly]]) is:
{{blockquote|...any act by which severe [[pain]] or [[suffering]], whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a [[Confession (law)|confession]], punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or [[intimidating]] or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions. --UN Convention Against Torture<ref>[http://www.un.org/millennium/law/iv-9.htm Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment], United Nations, 10 December 1984.</ref>}}

This definition was restricted to apply only to nations and to government-sponsored torture and clearly limits the torture to that perpetrated, directly or indirectly, by those acting in an official capacity. It appears to exclude:
# torture perpetrated by [[gang]]s, [[hate group]]s, [[rebellion|rebel]]s or [[terrorist]]s who ignore national or international mandates;
# random violence during war; and
# punishment allowed by national laws, even if the punishment uses techniques similar to those used by torturers such as [[mutilation]] or [[flagellation|whipping]] when practiced as [[criminal justice|lawful punishment]]. Some professionals in the torture rehabilitation field believe that this definition is too restrictive and that the definition of politically motivated torture should be broadened to include all acts of organized violence.<ref>James Jaranson, "The Science and Politics of Rehabilitating Torture Survivors," in ''Caring for Victims of Torture,'' edited by Michael K. Popkin, Amer Psychiatric Pub Inc.1998.</ref>

In 1986, the [[World Health Organization]] working group introduced the concept of ''organized violence'', which was defined as:<ref>Berliner P., Nikkelsen E.M., Bovbjerg, A., Wiking, M. (2004). "Psychotherapy treatment of torture survivors." ''International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation.'' 8, 85-96.</ref>

:"The inter-human infliction of significant, avoidable pain and suffering by an organized group according to a declared or implied strategy and/or system of ideas and attitudes. It comprises any violent action that is unacceptable by general human standards, and relates to the victims’ feelings. Organized violence includes “torture, cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” as in Article 5 of the United Nations [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] (1984). [[Internment|Imprisonment without trial]], [[mock execution]]s, [[hostage]]-taking, or any other form of violent deprivation of liberty, also fall under the heading of organized violence."<ref>World Health Organization (WHO). 1986. "The Health Hazards of Organized Violence. Report on a WHO Meeting." Veldhoven 22–25 April 1986.</ref>

An even broader definition was used in the 1975 [[Declaration of Tokyo]] regarding the participation of medical professionals in acts of torture:

:For the purpose of this Declaration, torture is defined as the deliberate, systematic or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons acting alone or on the orders of any authority, to force another person to yield information, to make a confession, or for any other reason.<ref>[http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/c18/index.html World Medical Association, ''Declaration of Tokyo,'' 1975.]</ref>

This definition includes torture as part of [[domestic violence]] or ritualistic abuse, as well as in criminal activities. Since 1973 [[Amnesty International]] has adopted the simplest, broadest definition of torture:

:"Torture is the systematic and deliberate infliction of acute pain by one person on another, or on a third person, in order to accomplish the purpose of the former against the will of the latter."<ref>[http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT40/001/1984/en/66491fc3-a18f-4ed5-8bd5-074d0a8a9130/act400011984eng.pdf Amnesty International, (1973) ''Torture in the Eighties.'' USA Edition. Amnesty International Publication.]</ref>

==History==
{{Further|History of human rights}}
{{Refimprove section|date=November 2011}}
[[File:JudeanImpalement Roaf185.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Impalement]] of [[Judean]]s in a [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] relief.]]
For most of recorded history, [[capital punishment]]s were often deliberately painful. Severe historical penalties include the [[breaking wheel]], [[boiling to death]], [[flaying]], [[disembowelment]], [[crucifixion]], [[impalement]], [[crushing (execution)|crushing]], [[stoning]], [[execution by burning]], [[dismemberment]], [[sawing (torture)|sawing]], [[scaphism]], or [[necklacing]].<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950826,00.html Revenge Is the Mother of Invention]</ref> An example from [[Archaic Greece]] is the story of the [[brazen bull]] proposed to [[Phalaris]] in the mid 6th century BC. [[The Five Pains]] are an example from [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]].

Deliberately painful methods of execution for severe crimes were taken for granted as part of justice until the development of [[Humanism]] in [[17th century philosophy]], and "[[cruel and unusual punishment]]" came to be denounced in the [[English Bill of Rights]] of 1689. The [[Age of Enlightenment]] in the [[western world]] further developed the idea of universal [[human rights]]. The adoption of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] in 1948 marks the recognition at least nominally of a general ban of torture by all UN member states.
Its effect in practice is limited, however, as the Declaration is not ratified officially and does not have legally binding character in international law, but is rather considered part of [[customary international law]].

===Antiquity===
The [[ancient Greeks]] and [[Ancient Romans|Romans]] used torture for interrogation. Until the 2nd century AD, torture was used only on [[slave]]s (with a few exceptions). After this point it began to be extended to all members of the [[Proletariat|lower classes]]. A slave's testimony was admissible ''only'' if extracted by torture, on the assumption that slaves could not be trusted to reveal the truth voluntarily. This torture occurred to break the bond between a master and his slave. Slaves were thought to be incapable of lying under torture.<ref>Peters, Edward. Torture. New York: Basil Blackwell Inc., 1985.</ref>

One of the oldest methods of torture was [[crucifixion]]. Its antiquity is indicated in its wide use by the [[Phoenicians]]. It was employed also by the [[Scythians]], the Greeks, the Romans, the [[Persia]]ns and the [[Carthaginians]].<ref>{{Cite book
| first = George Ryley
| last = Scott
| title = History of Torture Throughout the Ages
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Tj7vbMmuvhYC&pg=PA153&dq#v=onepage&q=&f=false
| publisher = Kessinger Publishing
| year = 2003
| page = 153
| isbn = 0-7661-4063-6}}</ref> Notorious mass crucifixions followed the [[slave rebellion]] under [[Spartacus]] and the [[Destruction of Jerusalem]] in 70 AD. To frighten other slaves from revolting, [[Crassus]] crucified 6,000 of Spartacus' men along the [[Appian Way]] from Capua to Rome.<ref>[http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/R/real_lives/spartacus.html The Real Spartacus]. Channel4.com.</ref> Prior to crucifixion, victims were often savagely whipped with barbed metal [[lashes]], to induce [[exsanguination]] (bleeding to death). This had the effect of weakening the condemned and thus speeding up what could be an inconveniently long execution process.

Over time the conceptual definition of torture has been expanded and remains a major question for ethics, philosophy, and law, but clearly includes the practices of many subsequent cultures.

Modern scholars find the concept of torture to be compatible with society's concept of [[Justice]] during the time of the [[Roman Empire]]. Romans, [[Jews]], [[Ancient Egyptians|Egyptians]] and many other cultures during that time included torture as part of their [[justice system]]. Romans had crucifixion, Jews had [[stoning]] and Egyptians had desert sun death.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} All these acts of torture were considered necessary (to deter others) or good (to punish the immoral).<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1033, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, ISBN 0-89243-565-8,1994</ref>

===Middle Ages===
{{Refimprove section|date=November 2011}}
[[File:Streckbett.jpg|250px|thumb|right|[[Medieval]] torture rack]]
Medieval and early modern European courts used torture, depending on the crime of the accused and his or her social status. Torture was deemed a legitimate means to extract confessions or to obtain the names of accomplices or other information about a crime. It was permitted by law only if there was already [[half-proof]] against the accused.<ref>J. Franklin, ''The Science of Conjecture: Evidence and Probability Before Pascal''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001, 26-30.</ref> Torture was used in continental Europe to obtain [[corroborating evidence]] in the form of a confession when other evidence already existed.<ref>Langbein, John H., "Torture and Plea Bargaining" (1978). ''Faculty Scholarship Series''. Paper 543.
http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/543</ref> Often, defendants already sentenced to death would be tortured to force them to disclose the names of accomplices. Torture in the [[Medieval Inquisition]] began in 1252 with a papal bull [[Ad extirpanda|Ad Extirpanda]] and ended in 1816 when another [[papal bull]] forbade its use.

Torture was usually conducted in secret, in underground dungeons. By contrast, torturous executions were typically public, and woodcuts of English prisoners being [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] show large crowds of spectators, as do paintings of Spanish [[auto-da-fé]] executions, in which heretics were burned at the stake.

===Early modern period===
[[File:Lingchi (cropped).jpg|thumb|Lingchi – execution by [[slow slicing]] – in Beijing around 1904.]]

During the early modern period, the [[torture of witches]] took place. In 1613, [[Anton Praetorius]] described the situation of the prisoners in the dungeons in his book ''Gründlicher Bericht Von Zauberey und Zauberern'' (''Thorough Report about Sorcery and Sorcerers''). He was one of the first to protest against all means of torture.

While secular courts often treated suspects ferociously, [[Will Durant|Will]] and Ariel Durant argued in ''The Age of Faith'' that many of the most vicious procedures were inflicted upon pious [[heresy|heretics]] by even more pious friars. The [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] gained a reputation as some of the most fearsomely innovative torturers in medieval Spain.

Torture was continued by [[Protestants]] during the [[Renaissance]] against teachers who they viewed as [[heretics]]. In 1547 [[John Calvin]] had [[Jacques Gruet]] arrested in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]]. Under torture he confessed to several crimes including writing an anonymous letter left in the pulpit which threatened death to Calvin and his associates.<ref name=Monter>{{cite journal|last=Monter|first=E. William|title=Crime and Punishment in Calvin's Geneva, 1562|journal=Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte|year=1973|volume=64|pages=282}}</ref> The Council of Geneva had him beheaded with Calvin's approval.<ref>{{cite book|last=Parker|first=T.H.L.|year=2006|title=John Calvin: A Biography|publisher=Lion Hudson plc|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-7459-5228-4}}</ref><ref name="Owen">{{cite book |title=The debatable Land Between this World and the Next |last=Owen |first=Robert Dale |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1872 |publisher=G.W. Carleton & Co. |location=New York |isbn= |page=69, notes }}</ref><ref name = "Calvin">Calvin to [[William Farel]], August 20, 1553, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC04575872&id=MnG0aSU9QnwC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=%22bonnet+jules+%22 Bonnet, Jules (1820–1892)] ''Letters of John Calvin'', Carlisle, Penn: [[Banner of Truth Trust]], 1980, pp. 158–159. ISBN 0-85151-323-9.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=John Locke, Toleration and Early Enlightenment Culture |series=Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History |last=Marshall |first=John |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-521-65114-X |page=325 }}</ref> Suspected witches were also tortured and burnt by Protestant leaders, though more often they were banished from the city, as well as suspected spreaders of the plague, which was considered a more serious crime.<ref>{{cite book|last=Levack|first=Brian P.|title=Anthropological Studies of Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion. Vol 1 of Articles on Witchcraft, Magic, and Demonology.|year=1992|publisher=Garland}}</ref> ("Greasers" were those who fumigated houses after disease and death, and some of them were accused of spreading the plague in order to perpetuate the need for their services, by mixing plague germs with grease and putting it on doorknobs.)<ref name=Burns>{{cite book|last=Burns|first=Williams E.|title=Witch Hunts in Europe and America: An Encyclopedia|year=2003|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Chicago|isbn=0313321426|url=http://pitkin.opac.marmot.org/Record/.b26180406}}</ref>

In England the trial by [[jury]] developed considerable freedom in evaluating evidence and condemning on [[circumstantial evidence]], making torture to extort confessions unnecessary. For this reason in England a regularized system of judicial torture never existed and its use was limited to political cases. Torture was in theory not permitted under English law, but in [[Tudors|Tudor]] and early [[Stuarts|Stuart]] times, under certain conditions, torture was used in England. For example the confession of [[Marc Smeaton]] at the trial of [[Anne Boleyn]] was presented in written form only, either to hide from the court that Smeaton had been tortured on [[the rack]] for four hours, or because [[Thomas Cromwell]] was worried that he would recant his confession if cross-examined. When [[Guy Fawkes]] was arrested for his role in the [[Gunpowder Plot]] of 1605 he was tortured until he revealed all he knew about the plot. This was not so much to extract a confession, which was not needed to prove his guilt, but to extract from him the names of his fellow conspirators. By this time torture was not routine in England and a special warrant from King [[James I of England|James I]] was needed before he could be tortured. The wording of the warrant shows some concerns for humanitarian considerations, the severity of the methods of interrogation were to be increased gradually until the interrogators were sure that Fawkes had told all he knew. In the end this did not help Fawkes much as he was broken on the only rack in England, which was in the [[Tower of London]]. Torture was abolished in England around 1640 (except ''[[peine forte et dure]]'', which was abolished in 1772).

In [[Colonial America]], women were sentenced to the [[stocks]] with wooden clips on their tongues or subjected to the "[[dunking stool]]" for the gender-specific crime of talking too much.<ref>Brizendine, Louann ''The Female Brain'' Broadway Books. New York. 2006 pg 36</ref> Certain Native American peoples, especially in the area that later became the eastern half of the United States, engaged in the sacrificial torture of war captives.<ref>See [[Captives in American Indian Wars]]</ref>

In the 17th century the number of incidents of judicial torture decreased in many European regions. [[Johann Graefe]] in 1624 published ''Tribunal Reformation'', a case against torture. [[Cesare Beccaria]], an Italian lawyer, published in 1764 "An Essay on Crimes and Punishments", in which he argued that torture unjustly punished the innocent and should be unnecessary in proving guilt. [[Voltaire]] (1694–1778) also fiercely condemned torture in some of his essays.

While in Egypt in 1798, [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] wrote to Major-General Berthier that the

<blockquote>
barbarous custom of whipping men suspected of having important secrets to reveal must be abolished. It has always been recognized that this method of interrogation, by putting men to the torture, is useless. The wretches say whatever comes into their heads and whatever they think one wants to believe. Consequently, the Commander-in-Chief forbids the use of a method which is contrary to reason and humanity.<ref>Napoleon Bonaparte, ''Letters and Documents of Napoleon, Volume I: The Rise to Power'', selected and translated by John Eldred Howard (London: The Cresset Press, 1961), 274.</ref>
</blockquote>

European states abolished torture from their statutory law in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Sweden and [[Prussia]] were the first to do so in 1722 and 1754 respectively; Denmark abolished torture in 1770, Russia in 1774, Austria in 1776, France in 1780, and the Netherlands in 1798. [[Bavaria]] abolished torture in 1806 and [[Württemberg]] in 1809. In Spain the Napoleonic conquest put an end to torture in 1808. Norway abolished it in 1819 and Portugal in 1826. The [[Switzerland|Swiss]] cantons abolished torture in the first half of the 19th century.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=O-Y6kc3Fr-MC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&dq=Russia+torture+1801&source=bl&ots=OETWKP60G8&sig=ULGdhnJIY1cFP1ES3WLf-qjEQac&hl=en&ei=MFPATP7SAovsOd62rcoL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Russia%20torture%201801&f=false Torture by Edward Peters]</ref>

[[File:Modocs Scalping and Torturing Prisoners.jpg|thumb|[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] [[scalping]] and torturing prisoners, published in May 1873]]
Tortures included the chevalet, in which an accused witch sat on a pointed metal horse with weights strung from her feet.<ref name="Naish p27">Camille Naish, ''Death Comes To The Maiden: Sex and Execution 1431-1933'' (London: Routledge, 1991), 27.</ref> Sexual humiliation torture included forced sitting on red-hot stools.<ref>Henry Charles Lea, ''Witchcraft'', pg 236 as quoted in Camille Naish, ''Death Comes To The Maiden: Sex and Execution 1431-1933'' (London: Routledge, 1991), 28.</ref> Gresillons, also called pennywinkis in Scotland, crushed the tips of fingers and toes in a vice-like device.<ref name="HRTR p120">H.R. Trevor-Roper, ''The European Witch-Craze of The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries and Other Essays,'' (New York: Harper and Row, 1969), 120.</ref> The Spanish Boot, or "leg-screw", used mostly in Germany and Scotland, was a steel boot that was placed over the leg of the accused and was tightened. The pressure from the squeezing of the boot would break the shin bone in pieces. An anonymous Scotsman called it "The most severe and cruel pain in the world".<ref name="HRTR p121">H.R. Trevor-Roper, ''The European Witch-Craze of The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries and Other Essays,'' (New York: Harper and Row, 1969), 121.</ref> The echelle more commonly known as the "ladder" or "rack" was a long table that the accused would lie upon and be stretched violently. The torture was used so intensely that on many occasions the victim's limbs would be pulled out of the socket and, at times, the limbs would even be torn from the body entirely. On some special occasions a tortillon was used in conjunction with the ladder which would severely squeeze and mutilate the genitals at the same time as the stretching was occurring.<ref name="HRTR p120"/> Similar to the ladder was the "lift". It too stretched the limbs of the accused, this time however the victim's feet were strapped to the ground and their arms were tied behind their back before a rope was tied to their hands and lifted upwards. This caused the arms to break before the horrific portion of the stretching began.<ref name="HRTR p121"/>

===Since 1948===
[[File:Buchenwald Eisenhower torture demonstration 63511.jpg|thumb|Survivors of the [[Ohrdruf concentration camp]] demonstrate torture methods used in the camp]]
{{Main|Use of torture since 1948}}

Modern sensibilities have been shaped by a profound reaction to the [[war crimes]] and [[crimes against humanity]] committed by the [[Axis Powers]] and [[Allied Powers]] in the [[Second World War]], which have led to a sweeping international rejection of most if not all aspects of the practice.<ref>Elihu Lauterpacht, C. J. Greenwood ''International Law Reports'', Cambridge University Press, 2002 ISBN 0-521-66122-6, ISBN 978-0-521-66122-5 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_mutsUVLw7gC&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139 p. 139 section 189]</ref> Even as many states engage in torture, few wish to be described as doing so, either to their own citizens or to the international community. A variety of devices bridge this gap, including state [[plausible deniability|denial]], "[[secret police]]", "[[need to know]]", a denial that given treatments are torturous in nature, appeal to various laws (national or international), the use of [[judicial jurisdiction|jurisdictional argument]] and the claim of "overriding need". Throughout history and today, many states have engaged in torture, albeit unofficially.

According to scholar [[Ervand Abrahamian]], although there were several decades of prohibition of torture that spread from Europe to most parts of the world, by the 1980s, the taboo against torture was broken and torture "returned with a vengeance," propelled in part by television and an opportunity to break political prisoners and broadcast the resulting public recantations of their political beliefs for "ideological warfare, political mobilization, and the need to win 'hearts and minds.'"<ref>[http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=Tortured+confessions+%22hearts+and+minds%22&safe=active#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=active&tbo=1&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Tortured+confessions+abrahamian+%22hearts+and+minds%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=e169c8353451e3d9 Tortured confessions: prisons and public recantations in modern Iran] - Page 3
</ref> According to professor Darius Rejali, although dictatorships may have used tortured "more, and more indiscriminately", it was modern democracies, "the United States, Britain, and France" who "pioneered and exported techniques that have become the lingua franca of modern torture: methods that leave no marks."<ref>[http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2007/12/16/torture_american_style/?page=1 Torture, American style.The surprising force behind torture: democracies by Darius Rejali]</ref>

Torture still occurs in liberal democracies despite several international treaties such as the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] and the [[UN Convention Against Torture]] making torture illegal. Despite such international conventions, torture cases continue to arise such as the 2004 [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse]] scandal committed by military police personnel of the [[United States Army]]. The [[US Constitution]] and US federal law prohibits the use of torture, yet such human rights violations occurred. Soldiers involved in the violations have been tried and sentenced to prison, and additional court cases are pending on other persons who engaged in such violations. At least one alleged person who engaged in a violation, an alleged homicide, was granted [[qualified immunity]].

According to the findings of Dr. Christian Davenport of the University of Notre Dame, Professor William Moore of Florida State University, and David Armstrong of Oxford University during their torture research, evidence suggests that non-governmental organizations have played the most determinant factor for stopping torture once it gets started.<ref>{{cite web|last=Davenport|first=Christian|title=Helsinki Commission Hearing|url=http://www.csce.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=ContentRecords.ViewWitness&ContentRecord_id=907&ContentType=D&ContentRecordType=D&ParentType=H&CFID=5892559&CFTOKEN=28254175|work=Hearing: "Is It Torture Yet?"|publisher=US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe|accessdate=21 November 2011}}</ref> Preliminary research suggests that it is civil society, not government institutions, that can stop torture once it has begun. Organizations such as [[Amnesty International]] serve to expose widespread human rights violations and hold the individuals accountable to the [[international community]].

[[File:Torture chamber in Prague Castle.JPG|thumb|300px|Torture tools in [[Prague Castle]]]]
[[File:Folter im 16 Jhd.jpg|thumb|Torture in the 16th century]]
===Historical methods of execution and capital punishment===
{{Main|List of methods of capital punishment}}
{{See also|Execution}}

For most of recorded history, capital punishments were often cruel and inhumane. Severe historical penalties include [[breaking wheel]], [[boiling to death]], [[flaying]], [[slow slicing]], [[disembowelment]], [[crucifixion]], [[impalement]], [[Crushing (execution)|crushing]], [[stoning]], [[execution by burning]], [[dismemberment]], [[sawing (torture)|sawing]], [[decapitation]], [[scaphism]], or [[necklacing]].<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950826,00.html The Death Penalty: Revenge Is the Mother of Invention]</ref>

''Slow slicing'', or ''death by/of a thousand cuts'', was a form of [[execution]] used in China from roughly 900 AD to its abolition in 1905. According to apocryphal lore, ''língchí'' began when the torturer, wielding an extremely sharp knife, began by putting out the eyes, rendering the condemned incapable of seeing the remainder of the torture and, presumably, adding considerably to the psychological terror of the procedure. Successive rather minor cuts chopped off ears, nose, tongue, fingers, toes, and such before proceeding to grosser cuts that removed large collops of flesh from more sizable parts, e.g., thighs and shoulders. The entire process was said to last three days, and to total 3,600 cuts. The heavily carved bodies of the deceased were then put on a parade for a show in the public.<ref>[http://www.manchestereventsguide.co.uk/feature/Death_by_a_Thousand_Cuts_at_Chinese_Arts_Centre_18th_January_to_23rd_March/114.html Death by a Thousand Cuts at Chinese Arts Centre 18th January to 23rd March]</ref>

''Impalement'' was a method of torture and [[execution (legal)|execution]] whereby a person is pierced with a long stake. The penetration can be through the sides, from the [[rectum]], or through the [[Human mouth|mouth]]. This method would lead to slow, painful, death. Often, the victim was hoisted into the air after partial impalement. Gravity and the victim's own struggles would cause him to slide down the pole. Death could take many days. Impalement was frequently practiced in Asia and Europe throughout the [[Middle Ages]]. [[Vlad III Dracula]] and [[Ivan the Terrible]] have passed into legend as major users of the method.<ref>[http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9382120/Dracula Dracula - Britannica Concise]</ref>

The ''breaking wheel'' was a torturous [[capital punishment]] device used in the [[Middle Ages]] and early modern times for public execution by [[Club (weapon)|cudgeling]] to death, especially in France and Germany. In France the condemned were placed on a cart-wheel with their limbs stretched out along the spokes over two sturdy wooden beams. The wheel was made to slowly revolve. Through the openings between the spokes, the executioner hit the victim with an iron hammer that could easily break the victim's bones. This process was repeated several times per limb. Once his bones were broken, he was left on the wheel to die. It could take hours, even days, before shock and dehydration caused death. The punishment was abolished in Germany as late as 1827.<ref>[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Breaking_on_the_wheel Breaking on the wheel - LoveToKnow 1911]</ref>

===Etymology===
The word 'torture' comes from the French ''torture'', originating in the [[Late Latin]] ''tortura'' and ultimately deriving the [[past participle]] of ''torquere'' meaning 'to twist'.<ref name="isbn0877797137 ">{{Cite book|author= |title=Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary, 10th Edition |publisher=Merriam-Webster |location=Springfield, Mass |year=1999 |page= 1246|isbn=0-87779-713-7 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> The word is also used loosely to describe more ordinary discomforts that would be accurately described as tedious rather than painful; for example, "making this spreadsheet was torture!"

{{anchor|Religious perspectives}}

==Religious perspectives on torture==
{{see also|Problem of Hell}}

===Religious prohibitions===

====Roman Catholic Church====
{{main|Inquisition|Spanish Inquisition|Medieval Inquisition}}
{{see also|Christian views on Hell#Roman Catholicism}}

The [[Catholic Church]], when deciding to allow governments to use in the medieval inquisitions the very methods of torture which they utilized in other criminal procedures, limited their application to "stop short of danger to life or limb".<ref>''Ad extirpanda'', quoted at [http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt119.html ''The Roman Theological Forum'']</ref> The modern Church's views regarding torture have changed drastically which are generally associated with the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} Thus, the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' (published in 1994) condemns the use of torture as a grave violation of [[Human Rights]]. In No. 2297-2298 it states:

{{quotation|
Torture, which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity... In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture. Regrettable as these facts are, the Church always taught the duty of clemency and mercy. She forbade clerics to shed blood. In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person. On the contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors. }}

==Laws against torture==
On 10 December 1948 the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] (UDHR). Article 5 states, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."<ref>[http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html Universal Declaration of Human Rights], United Nations, 10 December 1948</ref> Since that time, a number of other international treaties have been adopted to prevent the use of torture. Two of these are the [[United Nations Convention Against Torture]] and for international conflicts the [[Geneva Conventions]] [[GCIII|III]] and [[GCIV|IV]].

===United Nations Convention Against Torture===
The [[United Nations Convention Against Torture|United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment]] came into force in June 1987. The most relevant articles are Articles 1, 2, 3, and the first paragraph of Article 16.

{{quotation|Article 1<br>
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an [[official capacity]]. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.<br>
2. This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application.}}

{{quotation|Article 2<br>
1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.<br>
2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.<br>
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.}}

{{quotation|Article 3<br>
1. No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.<br>
2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.}}

{{quotation|Article 16<br>
1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article I, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. In particular, the obligations contained in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 shall apply with the substitution for references to torture of references to other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.}}

[[File:CAT members.svg|thumb|Map of the world with parties to the [[United Nations Convention Against Torture|Convention against Torture]] shaded dark green, states that have signed but not ratified the treaty in light green, and non-parties in gray]]

Note several points:
*Article 1: Torture is "severe pain or suffering".<ref>[http://teaching.law.cornell.edu/faculty/drwcasebook/docs/Rep%20Ireland%20v%20UK.pdf ECHR Ireland v. United Kingdom judgment] pp. 40,42, ¶ 167 "Although the [[five techniques]], as applied in combination, undoubtedly amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment, although their object was the extraction of confessions, the naming of others and/or information and although they were used systematically, they did not occasion suffering of the particular intensity and cruelty implied by the word torture as so understood."</ref> The [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR) influences discussions on this area of international law. See the section [[#Other conventions|Other conventions]] for more details on the ECHR ruling.
* Article 2: There are "no exceptional circumstances whatsoever" where a state can use torture and not break its treaty obligations".<ref name=CatC>[http://web.archive.org/web/20071126212034/http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/AdvanceVersions/CAT.C.USA.CO.2.pdf PDF file of United Nations Committee Against Torture second report on United States of America (CAT/C/48/Add.3/Rev.1)] 18 May 2006, Paragraph 14</ref>
* Article 16: Obliges signatories to prevent "acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", in "any territory under its jurisdiction".<ref group=nb>When ratifying the treaty the United States added a reservation that the definition of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" meant "the cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and/or Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States".(Yee, Sienho (2004). ''International crime and punishment: selected issues'', University Press of America, ISBN 0-7618-2887-7, ISBN 978-0-7618-2887-7 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gpqa9smhWqcC&pg=PA208#PPA208,M1 p. 208], Footnote 18. cites ''Convention Against Torture'', Annex I,I.). See also [[Torture and the United States#UN Convention Against Torture|Torture and the United States]].</ref><ref group=nb>The unanimous [[House of Lords Judicial Committee|Law Lords]] judgment on 8 December 2005 ruled that, under English law tradition, "torture and its fruits" could not be used in court ([http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,15935,1662107,00.html Torture evidence inadmissible in UK courts, Lords rules] by Staff and agencies in [[The Guardian]] 8 December 2005). But the information thus obtained could be used by the British police and security services as "it would be ludicrous for them to disregard information about a ticking bomb if it had been procured by torture." ([http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4510866.stm Torture ruling's international impact] by Jon Silverman [[BBC]] 8 December 2005)</ref>

As of June 2008, 145 states are parties to the Convention against Torture, and another nine states have signed but not ratified the treaty.<ref name=untreaty>United Nations. ''Multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General: [http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-9&chapter=4&lang=en Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment]''. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref>

====Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture====
The [[OPCAT|Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture]] (OPCAT) entered into force on 22 June 2006 as an important addition to the UNCAT. As stated in Article 1, the purpose of the protocol is to "establish a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080505053207/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cat-one.htm Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture], United Nations, 18 December 2002.</ref> Each state ratifying the OPCAT, according to Article 17, is responsible for creating or maintaining at least one independent national preventive mechanism for torture prevention at the domestic level.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}

===Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court===
[[File:ICC member states world map.png|thumb|Map of the world with the [[States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court|states parties to the International Criminal Court]] (as of June 2008) shown in green, states that have signed but not ratified the treaty in orange, and non-parties in gray]]
{{Main|International Criminal Court}}

The [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court|Rome Statute]], which established the [[International Criminal Court]] (ICC), provides for criminal prosecution of individuals responsible for [[genocide]], [[war crime]]s, and [[crimes against humanity]]. The statute defines torture as "intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions". Under Article 7 of the statute, torture may be considered a crime against humanity "when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack".<ref>Article 7 of the [http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/99_corr/cstatute.htm Rome Statute]. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref> Article 8 of the statute provides that torture may also, under certain circumstances, be prosecuted as a war crime.<ref>Article 8 of the [http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/99_corr/cstatute.htm Rome Statute]. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref>

The ICC came into existence on 1 July 2002<ref name=ai2002>Amnesty International, 11 April 2002. ''[http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/IOR40/008/2002 The International Criminal Court — a historic development in the fight for justice]''. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref> and can only prosecute crimes committed on or after that date.<ref>Article 11 of the [http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/99_corr/cstatute.htm Rome Statute]. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref> The court can generally exercise [[jurisdiction]] only in cases where the accused is a national of a state party to the Rome Statute, the alleged crime took place on the territory of a state party, or a situation is referred to the court by the [[United Nations Security Council]].<ref>Articles 12 and 13 of the [http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/99_corr/cstatute.htm Rome Statute]. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref> The court is designed to complement existing national judicial systems: it can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute such crimes.<ref>Articles 17 and 20 of the [http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/99_corr/cstatute.htm Rome Statute]. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref> Primary responsibility to investigate and punish crimes is therefore reserved to individual states.<ref>International Criminal Court. [http://web.archive.org/web/20070606210130/www.icc-cpi.int/organs/otp.html&l=en ''Office of the Prosecutor'']. Retrieved 11 June 2008.</ref>

===Geneva Conventions===
The four [[Geneva Conventions]] provide protection for people who fall into enemy hands.
The conventions do not clearly divide people into combatant and non-combatant roles. The conventions refer to:
* "wounded and sick combatants or non-combatants"
* "civilian persons who take no part in hostilities, and who, while they reside in the zones, perform no work of a military character"<ref>[[s:Fourth Geneva Convention|Fourth Geneva Convention]], Article 15.</ref>
* "Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces"
* "Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements"
* "Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power"
* "Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces"
* "Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory"<ref>[[s:Third Geneva Convention|Third Geneva Convention]], Article 4</ref>

The [[third Geneva Convention|third]] (GCIII) and [[fourth Geneva Convention|fourth]] (GCIV) Geneva Conventions are the two most relevant for the treatment of the victims of conflicts. Both treaties state in Article 3, in similar wording, that in a non-international armed conflict, "Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms... shall in all circumstances be treated humanely." The treaty also states that there must not be any "violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, [[mutilation]], cruel treatment and torture" or "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment".<ref>[[s:Third Geneva Convention|Third Geneva Convention]], 12 August 1949.</ref><ref>[[s:Fourth Geneva Convention|Fourth Geneva Convention]], 12 August 1949.</ref>

GCIV covers most [[civilian]]s in an international armed conflict, and says they are usually "Protected Persons" (see exemptions section immediately after this for those who are not). Under Article 32, protected persons have the right to protection from "murder, torture, corporal punishments, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments...but also to any other measures of brutality whether applied by non-combatant or military agents".

GCIII covers the treatment of [[prisoners of war]] (POWs) in an international armed conflict. In particular, Article 17 says that "No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind." POW status under GCIII has far fewer exemptions than "Protected Person" status under GCIV. Captured enemy combatants in an international armed conflict automatically have the protection of GCIII and are POWs under GCIII unless they are determined by a competent tribunal to not be a POW (GCIII Article 5).

;Geneva Convention IV exemptions
GCIV provides an important exemption:
{{quotation|Where in the territory of a Party to the conflict, the latter is satisfied that an individual protected person is definitely suspected of or engaged in activities hostile to the security of the State, such individual person shall not be entitled to claim such rights and privileges under the present Convention [ie GCIV] as would ... be prejudicial to the security of such State ... In each case, such persons shall nevertheless be treated with humanity (GCIV Article 5)}}

Also, nationals of a State not bound by the Convention are not protected by it, and nationals of a neutral State in the territory of a combatant State, and nationals of a co-belligerent State, cannot claim the protection of GCIV if their home state has normal diplomatic representation in the State that holds them (Article 4), as their diplomatic representatives can take steps to protect them. The requirement to treat persons with "humanity" implies that it is still prohibited to torture individuals not protected by the Convention.

The [[George W. Bush administration]] afforded fewer protections, under GCIII, to detainees in the "[[War on Terror]]" by codifying the legal status of an "[[unlawful combatant]]". If there is a question of whether a person is a lawful combatant, he (or she) must be treated as a POW "until their status has been determined by a competent tribunal" (GCIII Article 5). If the tribunal decides that he is an unlawful combatant, he is not considered a protected person under GCIII. However, if he is a protected person under GCIV he still has some protection under GCIV, and must be "treated with humanity and, in case of trial, shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed by the present Convention" (GCIV Article 5).<ref group=nb>
"Every person in enemy hands must have some status under international law: he is either a prisoner of war and, as such, covered by the Third Convention, a civilian covered by the Fourth Convention, or again, a member of the medical personnel of the armed forces who is covered by the First Convention. ''There is no'' intermediate status; nobody in enemy hands can be outside the law. We feel that this is a satisfactory solution – not only satisfying to the mind, but also, and above all, satisfactory from the humanitarian point of view.", because in the opinion of the ICRC "If civilians directly engage in hostilities, they are considered 'unlawful' or 'unprivileged' combatants or belligerents (the treaties of humanitarian law do not expressly contain these terms). They may be prosecuted under the domestic law of the detaining state for such action" ([[Jean Pictet]] (ed.) – [http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/380-600007?OpenDocument Commentary: IV Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1958)] – 1994 reprint edition). [http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/f6c8b9fee14a77fdc125641e0052b079 Geneva Conventions Protocol I] Article 51.3 also covers this interpretation "Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities".</ref>

;Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions
There are two additional protocols to the Geneva Convention: [[Protocol I]] (1977), relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts and [[Protocol II]] (1977), relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts. These clarify and extend the definitions in some areas, but to date many countries, [[torture and the United States|including the United States]], have either not signed them or have not ratified them.

[[Protocol I]] does not mention torture but it does affect the treatment of POWs and Protected Persons. In Article 5, the protocol explicitly involves "the appointment of Protecting Powers and of their substitute" to monitor that the Parties to the conflict are enforcing the Conventions.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080410223403/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/protocol1.htm Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1)], Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977.</ref> The protocol also broadens the definition of a lawful combatant in wars against "alien occupation, colonial domination and racist regimes" to include those who carry arms openly but are not wearing uniforms, so that they are now [[lawful combatant]]s and protected by the Geneva Conventions—although only if the Occupying Power has ratified Protocol I. Under the original conventions combatants without a recognisable insignia could be treated as criminals, and potentially be executed. It also mentions spies, and defines who is a mercenary. Mercenaries and spies are considered an unlawful combatant, and not protected by the same conventions.

[[Protocol II]] "develops and supplements Article 3 [relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts] common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 without modifying its existing conditions of application" (Article 1). Any person who does not take part in or ceased to take part in hostilities is entitled to humane treatment. Among the acts prohibited against these persons are, "Violence to the life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder as well as cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment" (Article 4.a), "Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault" (Article 4.e), and "Threats to commit any of the foregoing acts" (Article 4.h).<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080612085204/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/protocol2.htm Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II)], Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977.</ref> Clauses in other articles implore humane treatment of enemy personnel in an internal conflict. These have a bearing on torture, but no other clauses explicitly mention torture.

===Other conventions===
In accordance with the optional [[UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners]] (1955), ''"[[corporal punishment]], punishment by placing in a dark cell, and all cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments shall be completely prohibited as punishments for disciplinary offences."''<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080718003225/http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_comp34.htm Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners], United Nations, Geneva, 1955.</ref> The [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]], (16 December 1966), explicitly prohibits torture and ''"cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"'' by signatories.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080705115024/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] United Nations, 16 December 1966.</ref>

;European agreements
[[File:10CFREU-Article4.jpg|right|thumb|Article 4 of the [[Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union]] prohibits torture.]]

In 1950 during the [[Cold War]], the participating member states of the [[Council of Europe]] signed the [[European Convention on Human Rights]]. The treaty was based on the [[UDHR]]. It included the provision for a court to interpret the treaty, and Article 3 '''"Prohibition of torture"''' stated; ''"No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."''<ref>[http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm European Convention on Human Rights], 4 November 1950(with later protocols).</ref>

In 1978, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] ruled that the [[five techniques]] of "[[sensory deprivation]]" were not torture as laid out in Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but were "''inhuman or degrading treatment''"<ref>[http://www.worldlii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/1978/1.html Ireland v. United Kingdom, 1977]. (Case No. 5310/71)</ref> (see [[Uses of torture in recent times#United Kingdom|Accusations of use of torture by United Kingdom]] for details). This case occurred nine years before the United Nations Convention Against Torture came into force and had an influence on thinking about what constitutes torture ever since.<ref>Michael John Garcia (Legislative Attorney American Law Division) [http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/news/2005,1223-crs.pdf U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT):Overview and Application to Interrogation Techniques] [http://www.ilw.com/ CRS Report for Congress] 7 November 2005. pp. 13-15</ref>

On 26 November 1987 the member states of the [[Council of Europe]], meeting at [[Strasbourg]], adopted the [[European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment]] (ECPT). Two additional Protocols amended the Convention, which entered into force on 1 March 2002. The Convention set up the [[Committee for the Prevention of Torture]] to oversee compliance with its provisions.

;Inter-American Convention
The [[Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture]], currently ratified by 17 nations of the [[Americas]] and in force since 28 February 1987, defines torture more expansively than the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

{{quotation|
For the purposes of this Convention, torture shall be understood to be any act intentionally performed whereby physical or mental pain or suffering is inflicted on a person for purposes of criminal investigation, as a means of intimidation, as personal punishment, as a preventive measure, as a penalty, or for any other purpose. Torture shall also be understood to be the use of methods upon a person intended to obliterate the personality of the victim or to diminish his physical or mental capacities, even if they do not cause physical pain or mental anguish.
<br /><br />
The concept of torture shall not include physical or mental pain or suffering that is inherent in or solely the consequence of lawful measures, provided that they do not include the performance of the acts or use of the methods referred to in this article.<ref>[http://www.oas.org/juridico/English/Treaties/a-51.html Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture], Organization of American States, 9 December 1985.</ref>}}

===Supervision of anti-torture treaties===
The [[Istanbul Protocol]], an official UN document, is the first set of international guidelines for documentation of torture and its consequences. It became a United Nations official document in 1999.

Under the provisions of [[OPCAT]] that entered into force on 22 June 2006 independent international and national bodies regularly visit places where people are deprived of their liberty, to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Each state that ratified the OPCAT, according to Article 17, is responsible for creating or maintaining at least one independent national preventative mechanism for torture prevention at the domestic level.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, citing Article 1 of the [[European Convention for the Prevention of Torture]], states that it will, "by means of visits, examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the protection of such persons from torture and from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".<ref>[http://www.cpt.coe.int/en/about.htm European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)]</ref>

In times of armed conflict between a signatory of the Geneva conventions and another party, delegates of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC) monitor the compliance of signatories to the Geneva Conventions, which includes monitoring the use of torture. Human rights organizations, such as [[Amnesty International]], the [[World Organization Against Torture]], and [[Association for the Prevention of Torture]] work actively to stop the use of torture throughout the world and publish reports on any activities they consider to be torture.<ref>[http://www.apt.ch/ Association for the Prevention of Torture]</ref>

===Municipal law===
[[Sovereign state|States]] that ratified the [[United Nations Convention Against Torture]] have a treaty obligation to include the provisions into [[municipal law]]. The laws of many states therefore formally prohibit torture. However, such ''[[de jure]]'' legal provisions are by no means a proof that, ''[[de facto]]'', the signatory country does not use torture.

To prevent torture, many legal systems have a [[right against self-incrimination]] or explicitly prohibit undue force when dealing with suspects.

England abolished torture in about 1640 (except [[peine forte et dure]], which England only abolished in 1772), Scotland in 1708, [[Prussia]] in 1740, Denmark around 1770, Russia in 1774, [[Habsburg Monarchy|Austria]] and [[Poland|Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in 1776, Italy <!--anachronism; Italy, as a unified state, didn't exist until 1861--> in 1786, France in 1789, [[Baden]] in 1831, Japan in 1873.<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/hcc4/htm/i.vi.viii.htm History of the Christian Church, Volume IV: Mediaeval Christianity. A.D. 590-1073. Chapter VI. Morals And Religion: Page 80:''The Torture''] by Schaff, Philip (1819-1893)</ref><ref>[http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0013250.html Hutchinson's Encyclopaedia: ''Torture'']</ref><ref>[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Torture Torture - LoveToKnow 1911]</ref>

The last European jurisdictions to abolish legal torture were Portugal (1828) and the canton of [[Glarus]] in Switzerland (1851).

The French 1789 [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]], of constitutional value, prohibits submitting suspects to any hardship not necessary to secure his or her person. Statute law explicitly makes torture a crime. In addition, statute law prohibits the police or justice from interrogating suspects under oath.

As the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]] recognizes [[customary international law]], or the [[law of nations]], the U.S. [[Alien Tort Claims Act]] also provides legal remedies for victims of torture in the United States. Specifically, the status of torturers under the law of the United States, as determined by a famous legal decision in 1980, [[Filártiga v. Peña-Irala]], [[case citation|630 F.2d 876]] (1980), is that, "the torturer has become, like the [[maritime piracy|pirate]] and the [[slave trade]]r before him, [[hostis humani generis]], an enemy of all mankind."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Decision in Filártiga v. Peña-Irala |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jksonc/docs/filartiga-577FSupp860.html}}</ref>

====Exclusion of Evidence Obtained Under Torture====
Recently the question of the use of evidence obtained under torture has arisen in connection with prosecutions in the so-called [[War on Terror]] in the United Kingdom and the United States.

=====United Kingdom=====
In September 2011, UK involvement in torture overseas was brought to light with the unearthing of top secret documents by [[Human Rights Watch]] in [[Libya]]. Chief Executive of [[Freedom from Torture]] [[Keith Best]] stated: 'If verified, they show the head of counter-terrorism at MI6 engaged in fawning dialogue with Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief, Musa Kusa, about how "glad" Britain was to help deliver into his hands the Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhadj' on [http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/news-events/news/5496 Freedom from Torture website].
During a [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] debate on 7 July 2009, MP [[David Davis (British politician)|David Davis]] accused the UK government of outsourcing torture, by allowing [[Rangzieb Ahmed]] to leave the country (even though they had evidence against him upon which he was later convicted for terrorism) to Pakistan, where it is said the [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] was given the go ahead by the British intelligence agencies to torture Ahmed. Davis further accused the government of trying to gag Ahmed, stopping him coming forward with his accusations, after he had been imprisoned back in the UK. He said, there was "an alleged request to drop his allegations of torture: if he did that, they could get his sentence cut and possibly give him some money. If this request to drop the torture case is true, it is frankly monstrous. It would at the very least be a criminal misuse of the powers and funds under the Government's Contest strategy, and at worst a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice."<ref>{{cite web|title=Parliamentary Business>Publications and Records > Commons Publications > Commons Hansard > Daily Hansard -Debate|publisher=Parliament.uk|url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090707/debtext/90707-0020.htm|accessdate=11 July 09}}</ref>

In 2003, the United Kingdom's Ambassador to [[Uzbekistan]], [[Craig Murray]], suggested that it was "wrong to use information gleaned from torture".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1474852/The-envoy-silenced-after-telling-undiplomatic-truths.html|title=The envoy silenced after telling undiplomatic truths|last=Gedye|first=Robin|date=23 October 2004|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|quote=Murray fired off a memorandum to the Foreign Office last July suggesting that Britain's intelligence services were wrong to use information gleaned from torture victims|accessdate=26 August 2010|location=London}}</ref>
The unanimous [[House of Lords Judicial Committee|Law Lords]] judgment on 8 December 2005 confirmed this position. They ruled that, under English law tradition, "torture and its fruits" could not be used in court.<ref>[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,15935,1662107,00.html Torture evidence inadmissible in UK courts, Lords rules],''[[The Guardian]]'', 8 December 2005</ref> But the information thus obtained could be used by the British police and security services as "it would be ludicrous for them to disregard information about a ticking bomb if it had been procured by torture."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4510866.stm Torture ruling's international impact] by Jon Silverman [[BBC]] 8 December 2005</ref> The Law Lords thus dismissed concerns about the validity of information obtained under torture, which have been expressed by various security agents and human rights activists.

Murray's accusations did not lead to any investigation by his employer, the FCO, and he resigned after disciplinary action was taken against him in 2004. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office itself is being investigated by the [[National Audit Office (United Kingdom)|National Audit Office]] because of accusations that it has victimized, bullied and intimidated its own staff.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1533100,00.html Foreign Office faces probe into 'manipulation'], Robert Winnett,''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]]'', 20 March 2005</ref>

Murray later stated that he felt that he had unwittingly stumbled upon what has been called "torture by proxy".<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/?050214on_onlineonly01 Q & A: Torture by Proxy] Jane Mayer answers question asked by Amy Davidson [[The New Yorker]] on 14 February 2005</ref> He thought that Western countries moved people to regimes and nations where it was known that information would be extracted by torture, and made available to them.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}

Murray states that he was aware from August 2002 "that the CIA were bringing in detainees to [[Tashkent]] from [[Bagram Air Base|Bagram airport Afghanistan]], who were handed over to the [[Uzbek security services]] (SNB). I presumed at the time that these were all Uzbek nationals — that may have been a false presumption. I knew that the CIA were obtaining intelligence from their subsequent interrogation by the SNB." He goes on to say that he did not know at the time that any non-Uzbek nationals were flown to Uzbekistan and although he has studied the reports by several journalists and finds their reports credible he is not a firsthand authority on this issue.<ref>[http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2005/07/extraordinary_r_1.html Extraordinary Rendition] on [http://www.craigmurray.co.uk Craig Murray's website], 11 July 2005</ref>

=====United States=====
As in the United Kingdom, US law prohibits using evidence obtained illegally or under duress in US courts. The United States includes protection against self-incrimination in the [[United States Constitution/Amendment Five|fifth amendment]] to its [[United States Constitution|federal constitution]], which in turn serves as the basis of the [[Miranda warning]], which law enforcement officers issue to individuals upon their arrest. Additionally, the US Constitution's [[United States Constitution/Amendment Eight|eighth amendment]] forbids the use of "cruel and unusual punishments," which is widely interpreted as prohibiting torture. Finally, 18 U.S.C. § 2340<ref>[http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_113C.html US CODE: Title 18,CHAPTER 113C—TORTURE<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ''et seq.'' define and forbid torture outside the United States.

In May 2008 Susan Crawford, the official overseeing prosecutions before Military Tribunals at Guantanamo, declined to refer for trial the case of [[Mohammed al-Qahtani]] because she said, "we tortured [him]".<ref name = "Qahtani Tortured">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5134328.stm Q&A: Guantanamo detentions] BBC News, 22 January 2009.</ref><ref>Qhatani remains imprisoned at Guantanamo. Woodward, Bob [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011303372.html Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official] Washington Post, 14 January 2009.</ref> Crawford said that a combination of techniques with clear medical consequences amounted to the legal definition of torture, and that torture "tainted everything going forward."<ref name = "Qahtani Tortured"/>

In the 2010 New York trial of [[Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani]] who was accused of complicity in the bombing of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled evidence obtained under coercion inadmissible.<ref name = "Detainee Acquitted">Weiser, Benjamin,[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/nyregion/18ghailani.html Detainee Acquitted on Most Counts in ’98 Bombings] New York Times, 17 November 2010</ref> The ruling excluded an important witness, whose name had been extracted from the defendant under duress.<ref name = "Civilian Trial Debate">Rhee, Nissa, [http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2011/0126/Guantanamo-detainee-s-sentence-renews-debate-about-civilian-trials Guantánamo detainee's Sentence Renews Debate About Civilian Trials], Christian Science Monitor, 26 January 2011.</ref> The jury acquitted him of 280 charges and convicted on only one charge of conspiracy.<ref name = "Detainee Acquitted"/><ref name ="Civilian Trial Debate"/>

==Use of torture==
"Recent times" in the context of this article is from 10 December 1948, when the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]].

===Torture perpetrators===
By the definition used by the 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture, torture is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. Those most likely to be involved in torture include persons such as:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irct.org/what-is-torture/defining-torture.aspx |title= Defining torture |publisher=IRCT |accessdate=7 October 2010}}</ref>
* criminals

==Aspects of torture==

===Ethical arguments regarding torture===
{{Globalize|date=November 2009}}
{{Main|Ethical arguments regarding torture}}

Torture has been criticized on humanitarian and moral grounds, on the grounds that evidence extracted by torture is unreliable, and because torture corrupts institutions that tolerate it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/torture/ethics/wrong_2.shtml|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071213004811/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/torture/ethics/wrong_2.shtml|archivedate=13 December 2007|title=Consequentialist reasons why torture is wrong|publisher=BBC}}</ref> Besides degrading the victim, torture debases the torturer: American advisors alarmed at torture by their South Vietnamese allies early in the [[Vietnam War]] concluded that "if a commander allowed his officers and men to fall in to these vices [they] would pursue them for their own sake, for the perverse pleasure they drew from them."<ref name = "Bright Shining Lie">{{cite book| last =Sheehan| first = Neil| title =A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam| publisher =Random House | edition =first| year =1988| pages= 104, 105| isbn =0-394-484477-9}}</ref> The consequent degeneracy destroyed discipline and morale: "[a] soldier had to learn that he existed to uphold law and order, not to undermine it."<ref name = "Bright Shining Lie"/>

Organizations like [[Amnesty International]] argue that the universal legal prohibition is based on a universal philosophical consensus that torture and ill-treatment are repugnant, abhorrent, and immoral.<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=Amnesty International|authorlink=Amnesty International|url=http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-arguments-eng#question1|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071205141017/http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-arguments-eng|archivedate=5 December 2007|title=Torture and ill-treatment: the arguments: 1. What is torture? What is ill-treatment? What's the difference?}}</ref> But since shortly after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] there has been a [[Torture and the United States|debate in the United States]] about whether torture is justified in some circumstances. Some people, such as [[Alan M. Dershowitz]] and [[Mirko Bagaric]], have argued the need for information outweighs the moral and ethical arguments against torture.<ref name="yab">[http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/story.jsp?story=640612 Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: People matter more than holy books]{{Dead link|date=May 2010}} Editorial and Opinion (Page 31) in [[The Independent]] Monday 23 May 2005. Includes commentary on how some Americans have changed their attitudes to torture.</ref><ref>Bagaric, Mirko & Clarke Julie;''[http://web.archive.org/web/20080209232527/http://www.usfca.edu/lawreview/Vol39number3.htm Not Enough Official Torture in the World? The Circumstances in Which Torture Is Morally Justifiable]'' [[University of San Francisco]] Law Review, Volume 39, Spring 2005, Number 3, pp. 581-616.</ref> However, after coercive practices were banned, interrogators in Iraq saw an increase of 50 percent more high-value intelligence. Maj. Gen. [[Geoffrey D. Miller]], the American commander in charge of detentions and interrogations, stated "''a rapport-based interrogation that recognizes respect and dignity, and having very well-trained interrogators, is the basis by which you develop intelligence rapidly and increase the validity of that intelligence.''"<ref>"General Says Less Coercion of Captives Yields Better Data" [[NY Times]] 7 September 2004</ref> Others including [[Robert Mueller]], FBI Director since 5 July 2001, have pointed out that despite former Bush Administration claims that [[waterboarding]] has "disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks", they do not believe that evidence gained by the U.S. government through what supporters of the techniques call "[[enhanced interrogation]]" has disrupted a single attack and no one has come up with a documented example of lives saved thanks to these techniques.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/12/11/BL2007121101053.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns Did torture Work?] [[Washington Post]] 11 December 2007</ref><ref>David Rose (16 December 2008) [http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2008/12/torture200812?currentPage=4 "Reckoning"] Vanity Fair. Retrieved on 7 June 2009.</ref> On 19 June 2009, the US government announced that it was delaying the scheduled release of declassified portions of a report by the CIA Inspector General that reportedly cast doubt on the effectiveness of the "enhanced interrogation" techniques employed by CIA interrogators, according to references to the report contained in several Bush-era Justice Department memos declassified in the Spring of 2009 by the US Justice Department.<ref>Hess, Pamela (19 June 2009) [http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOTk5mUIVTPTRGU5hoR5JJrr38BAD98U08IG0 "Gov't delays release of report on interrogations."]{{Dead link|date=May 2010}} Associated Press. Retrieved on 20 June 2009.</ref><ref>Seibel, Mark and Strobel, Warren (24 April 2009). [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/66895.html "CIA official: No proof harsh techniques stopped terror attacks."] McClatchy's. Retrieved on 20 June 2009.</ref><ref>Landay, Jonathan and Strobel, Warren (21 May 2009) [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/68643.html "Cheney's speech ignored some inconvenient truths."] McClatchy's. Retrieved on 20 June 2009.</ref>

The [[ticking time bomb scenario]], a [[thought experiment]], asks what to do to a captured terrorist who has placed a nuclear [[time bomb]] in a populated area. If the terrorist is tortured, he may explain how to defuse the bomb. The scenario asks if it is ethical to torture the terrorist. A 2006 [[BBC]] poll held in 25 nations gauged support for each of the following positions:<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6063386.stm|title=One third support some torture|publisher=BBC News|date=19 October 2006}}</ref>
*Terrorists pose such an extreme threat that governments should be allowed to use some degree of torture if it may gain information that saves innocent lives.
*Clear rules against torture should be maintained because any use of torture is immoral and will weaken international human rights.
An average of 59% of people worldwide rejected torture. However there was a clear divide between those countries with strong rejection of torture (such as Italy, where only 14% supported torture) and nations where rejection was less strong. Often this lessened rejection is found in countries severely and frequently threatened by terrorist attacks. E.g., Israel, despite its Supreme Court outlawing torture in 1999, showed 43% supporting torture, but 48% opposing, India showed 37% supporting torture and only 23% opposing.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6063386.stm ''Ibid'']: "''Israel has the largest percentage of those polled endorsing the use of a degree of torture on prisoners, with 43% saying they agreed that some degree of torture should be allowed.''" On the Israeli Supreme Court decision outlawing torture, see Judgment Concerning the Legality of the General Security Service’s Interrogation Methods, Supreme Court of Israel, 38 I.L.M. 1471 (1999), and other references at [http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss14/nagan.shtml#Heading300 law.harvard.edu]</ref>

Within nations there is a clear divide between the positions of members of different ethnic groups, religions, and political affiliations, sometimes reflecting distinctions between groups considering themselves threatened or victimized by terror acts and those from the alleged perpetrator groups. For example, the study found that among Jews in Israel 53% favored some degree of torture and only 39% wanted strong rules against torture while Muslims in Israel were overwhelmingly against any use of torture, unlike Muslims polled elsewhere. Differences in general political views also can matter. In one 2006 survey by the Scripps Center at Ohio University, 66% of Americans who identified themselves as strongly Republican supported torture, whereas 24% of those who identified themselves as strongly Democratic.<ref>[http://www.newspolls.org/articles/19606 "Support for torture is linked to attitudes on spanking"]</ref> In a 2005 U.S. survey 72% of American Catholics supported the use of torture in some circumstances compared to 51% of American secularists.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080612093225/http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2006a/032406/032406h.htm "Majority of Catholics would support torture."]</ref> A Pew survey in 2009 similarly found that the religiously unaffiliated are the least likely (40 percent) to support torture, and that the more a person claims to attend church, the more likely he or she is to condone torture; among racial/religious groups, white evangelical Protestants were far and away the most likely (62 percent) to support inflicting pain as a tool of interrogation.<ref>Pitts, Leonard (7 May 2009). [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/67612.html "Commentary: Why do we tolerate torture?"] McClatchy's. Retrieved on 19 June 2009.</ref>

A ''Today/Gallup poll'' "found that sizable majorities of Americans disagree with tactics ranging from leaving prisoners naked and chained in uncomfortable positions for hours, to trying to make a prisoner think he was being drowned".<ref>{{Cite news|first=Toni |last=Locy |title=Poll: Most object to extreme interrogation tactics |url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-12-poll-interrogation_x.htm |work=USA TODAY |date=13 January 2005 |accessdate=20 January 2007 | quote = sizable majorities of Americans disagree with tactics
}}</ref>

There are also different attitudes as to what constitutes torture, as revealed in an ABC News/Washington Post poll, where more than half of the Americans polled thought that techniques such as [[sleep deprivation]] were not torture.<ref>David Morris and Gary Langer ''[http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90051 Poll: Torture Methods Opposed]'' ABCNEWS.com 27 May 2004 "Americans by nearly 2-to-1 oppose torturing terrorism suspects — but half believe the U.S. government, as a matter of policy, is doing it anyway. And even more think the government is employing physical abuse that falls short of torture in some cases."</ref>

In practice, so-called "enhanced interrogation" techniques were employed by the CIA in situations that did not involve the "ticking time bomb" scenario that has been the subject of opinion polls and public debate. In April 2009 a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a former Army psychiatrist stated that the Bush administration applied pressure on interrogators to use the "enhanced interrogation" techniques on detainees to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime.<ref>Landay, Jonathan (21 April 2009). [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/66622.html "Report: Abusive tactics used to seek Iraq-al Qaida link."] McClatchy's. Retrieved on 20 June 2009.</ref> The purported [[Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations|link between al Qaida and Hussein's regime]], which has been disproven,<ref>(8 September 2006) [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14728447/ "Senate report: No Saddam, al-Qaida link."] Associated Press. Retrieved on 20 June 2009</ref> was a key political justification for the [[Iraq War]]. On 13 May 2009, former NBC News investigative producer Robert Windrem reported, as confirmed by former Iraq Survey Group leader [[Charles Duelfer]], that the Vice President's Office suggested that an interrogation team led by Duelfer waterboard an Iraqi prisoner suspected of knowing about a relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam.<ref>Windrem, Robert (13 May 2009). [http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-13/cheneys-role-deepens/full/ "Cheney's Role Deepens."] Daily Beast. Retrieved on 20 June 2009.</ref><ref>Conason, Joe (14 May 2009). [http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/05/14/cheney/ We tortured to justify war."]{{Dead link|date=May 2010}} Salon. Retrieved on 20 June 2009.</ref>

On 14 February 2010, in an appearance on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s [[This Week (ABC TV series)|This Week]], Vice-President [[Dick Cheney]] reiterated his support of [[waterboarding]] and "[[enhanced interrogation]]" techniques for captured terrorist suspects, saying, "I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program."<ref name=ABCTW20100214>
{{Cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/week-transcript-vice-president-dick-cheney/story?id=9818034
|title='This Week' Transcript: Former Vice President Dick Cheney
|date=14 February 2010
|work=[[This Week (ABC TV series)|This Week]]
|publisher=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|accessdate=27 February 2010}}
</ref>

Pressed by the BBC in 2010 on his personal view of waterboarding, Presidential Advisor [[Karl Rove]] said: "I'm proud that we kept the world safer than it was, by the use of these techniques. They’re appropriate, they're in conformity with our international requirements and with US law."<ref>www.timesonline.co.uk, 13 March 2010, "Karl Rove says water torture is justified - and a source of pride" by Giles Whittell</ref>

A 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic, published on March 2013, disclosed that the US sent a veteran of the ''[[dirty war]]s'' in [[Central America]] to oversee Iraqi [[commando]] units involved in acts of torture during the [[History of Iraq (2003–2011)|American-led occupation]]. These American citizens could theoretically be tried by the [[International Criminal Court]] even though the US is not a signatory. But it would have to be referred by the [[UN security council]] and, given that the US has a [[veto]] on the council, this hypothesis is very improbable." [[Reprieve (organisation)|Reprieve]] Legal Director Kat Craig said: "This latest exposé of [[human rights abuses]] shows that torture is [[endemic]] to [[US foreign policy]]; these are considered and deliberate acts, not only sanctioned but developed by the highest echelons of [[United States Department of Defense|US security service]]."<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/07/pentagon-investigating-link-military-torture Pentagon investigating link between US military and torture centres in Iraq. Defense Department says 'it will take time' to respond to 15-month investigation by BBC Arabic and the Guardian]. By Ewen MacAskill and Mona Mahmood. ''[[The Guardian]]'', 7 March 2013.</ref>

===Utilitarian arguments against torture===
There is a strong utilitarian argument against torture; namely, that there is simply no scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness.<ref>[http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4q565424126068h/ SpringerLink - Journal Article<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The lack of scientific basis for the effectiveness of torture as an interrogation techniques is summarized in a 2006 Intelligence Science Board report titled "EDUCING INFORMATION, Interrogation: Science and Art, Foundations for the Future".<ref name="Educing">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/educing.pdf|title=Educing Information: Interrogation: Science and Art—Foundations for the Future|date=December 2006|publisher=National Defense Intelligence College|accessdate=15 October 2009}}</ref>

Those favoring torture have however pointed to some specific cases where torture has elicited true information.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/torturecardozo.pdf|title=J. Franklin, Evidence gained from torture: wishful thinking, checkability and extreme circumstances|year=2009|journal=Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law |volume= 17 |issue=2|accessdate=28 December 2009 |pages= 281–90}}</ref>

===Rejection of torture===
A famous example of rejection of the use of torture was cited by the Argentine [[National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons]] in whose report, Italian general [[Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa]] was reputed to have said in connection with the investigation of the disappearance of prime minister [[Aldo Moro]], "Italy can survive the loss of Aldo Moro. It would not survive the introduction of torture."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20071012004601/http://nuncamas.org/english/library/nevagain/nevagain_002.htm Report of Conadep (National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons): Prologue] - 1984</ref>

===Incrimination of innocent people===
{{Refimprove|date=April 2009}}
One well documented effect of torture is that its victims will say or do anything to escape the situation, including untrue "confessions" and implication of others without genuine knowledge, who may well then be tortured in turn. That information may have been extracted from the [[Birmingham Six]] through the use of police beatings was counterproductive because it made the convictions unsound as the confessions were worthless. There are rare exceptions, such as Admiral [[James Stockdale]], [[Medal of Honor]] recipient, who refused to provide information under torture.

===Secrecy===
Before the emergence of modern policing, torture was an important aspect of policing and the use of it was openly sanctioned and acknowledged by the authority. The Economist magazine proposed that one of the reasons torture endures is that torture does indeed work in some instances to extract information/confession, if those who are being tortured are indeed guilty.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9832909 | work=The Economist | title=Is torture ever justified? | date=20 September 2007}}</ref>
Depending on the culture, torture has at times been carried on in silence (official denial), semi-silence (known but not spoken about), or openly acknowledged in public (to instill fear and obedience).

In the 21st century, even when states sanction their interrogation methods, torturers often work outside the law. For this reason, some prefer methods that, while unpleasant, leave victims alive and unmarked. A victim with no visible damage may lack credibility when telling tales of torture, whereas a person missing fingernails or eyes can easily prove claims of torture. Mental torture, however can leave scars just as deep and long-lasting as physical torture.<ref>[http://aliran.com/oldsite/monthly/2004a/5e.html Abu Ghraib and the ISA: What's the difference?]</ref> Professional torturers in some countries have used techniques such as electrical shock, asphyxiation, heat, cold, noise, and sleep deprivation, which leave little evidence, although in other contexts torture frequently results in horrific mutilation or death. However the most common and prevalent form of torture worldwide in both developed and under-developed countries is beating.<ref>[http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT40/016/2000/en/51e8fe04-d0d2-4dc8-96a5-06d8253746ff/act400162000en.pdf Amnesty.org]</ref>

==Torture methods and devices==
[[File:A Torture Rack.jpg|thumb|A [[rack (torture device)|rack]] in the [[Tower of London]].]]
[[File:Guy fawkes torture signatures.jpg|thumb|The contrast shown between [[Guy Fawkes]]' signatures: the one above (a faint, shaky 'Guido') was done immediately after torture; the one below eight days later.<ref>[[The National Archives]]. "[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/museum/item.asp?item_id=19 Confession of Guy Fawkes]." Retrieved 22 April 2007.</ref>]]
{{Main|List of torture methods and devices}}

[[List of torture methods and devices#Physical torture methods|Physical torture methods]] have been used throughout recorded history and can range from a beating with nothing more than fist and boot, through to the use of sophisticated [[List of torture methods and devices#Torture devices|custom designed devices]] such as the [[Rack (torture device)|rack]]. Remarkable ingenuity has been shown in the invention of instruments and techniques of physical torture, exploiting medical knowledge of the vulnerabilities of the human body (''e.g.'', the sensitivity of the nail beds to pressure, or of the soles of the feet to heat). Other types of torture can include [[sensory deprivation|sensory]] or [[sleep deprivation]], restraint or being held in awkward or damaging positions, uncomfortable extremes of heat and cold, loud noises or any other means that inflicts severe physical or mental pain. The boundary between torture and legitimate interrogation techniques is not universally agreed. In a separate opinion, at the end of the 1978 in the [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR) trial "Ireland v. the United Kingdom" (Case No. 5310/71), Judge Zekia stated that "It seems to me permissible, in ascertaining whether torture or inhuman treatment has been committed or not, to apply not only the objective test but also the subjective test. As an example I can refer to the case of an elderly sick man who is exposed to a harsh treatment—after being given several blows and beaten to the floor, he is dragged and kicked on the floor for several hours. I would say without hesitation that the poor man has been tortured. If such treatment is applied on a wrestler or even a young athlete, I would hesitate a lot to describe it as an inhuman treatment and I might regard it as a mere rough handling".<ref>[http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=695383&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 Ireland v. United Kingdom — ECHR Grand Chamber judgment]<!--Retrieved 2009-06-08--></ref>

[[List of torture methods and devices#Psychological torture methods|Psychological torture]] uses non-physical methods that cause psychological [[suffering]]. Its effects are not immediately apparent unless they alter the [[behavior]] of the tortured person. Since there is no international political consensus on what constitutes psychological torture, it is often overlooked, denied, and referred to by different names.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}

Psychological torture is less well known than physical torture and tends to be subtle and much easier to conceal. In practice the distinctions between physical and psychological torture are often blurred.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} Physical torture is the inflicting of severe pain or suffering on a person. In contrast, psychological torture is directed at the psyche with calculated violations of psychological needs, along with deep damage to psychological structures and the breakage of beliefs underpinning normal [[sanity]]. Torturers often inflict both types of torture in combination to compound the associated effects.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}

Psychological torture also includes deliberate use of extreme [[psychological stress|stressors]] and situations such as [[mock execution]], [[shunning]], violation of deep-seated social or sexual [[norm (sociology)|norm]]s and [[taboo]]s, or extended [[solitary confinement]]. Because psychological torture needs no physical violence to be effective, it is possible to induce severe psychological pain, suffering, and [[Psychological trauma|trauma]] with no externally visible effects.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}

[[Rape]] and other forms of [[sexual abuse]] are often used as methods of torture for interrogative or punitive purposes.<ref>Nooria Mehraby. [http://www.startts.org.au/default.aspx?id=201 Refugee Women: The Authentic Heroines] <!-- Must be a more reliable source than this! --></ref>

In [[medical torture]], medical practitioners use torture to judge what victims can endure, to apply treatments that enhance torture, or act as torturers in their own right. [[Josef Mengele]] and [[Shirō Ishii]] were infamous during and after [[World War II]] for their involvement in medical torture and murder.

[[Pharmacological torture]] is the use of drugs to produce psychological or physical pain or discomfort. [[Tickle torture]] is an unusual form of torture which nevertheless has been documented, and can be both physically and psychologically painful.<ref>Heger, Heinz. ''The Men With the Pink Triangle''. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1980.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Yamey|first=Gavin|title=Torture: European Instruments of Torture and Capital Punishment from the Middle Ages to Present|journal=British Medical Journal|date=11 August 2011|volume=323|pages=346|accessdate=14 December 2012}}</ref><ref>Schreiber, Mark.'' The Dark Side: Infamous Japanese Crimes and Criminals''. Japan: Kodansha International, 2001. Page 71</ref><ref>Wiehe, Vernon. Sibling Abuse: Hidden Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Trauma. New York: Lexington Books, 1990.</ref>

==Torture murder==
{{Main|Torture murder}}
Torture murder involves torture to the point of murder as for punishment in [[law enforcement agency|law enforcement agencies]] of countries that allow torture. [[Murderer]]s might also torture their victims to death for sadistic reasons. Some terrorist groups tortures&mdash;typically commencing with the forcible extraction of all ten fingernails, all ten toenails, and all thirty-two teeth&mdash;before executing them by such barbaric techniques as slow decapitation via butcher knife.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} Ancient conceptual forerunners of torture murder include [[drawing and quartering]] and [[flaying]].

==Effects of torture==
The consequences of torture reach far beyond immediate pain. Many victims suffer from [[post-traumatic stress disorder]] (PTSD), which includes symptoms such as flashbacks (or intrusive thoughts), severe anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, depression and memory lapses. Torture victims often feel guilt and shame, triggered by the humiliation they have endured. Many feel that they have betrayed themselves or their friends and family. All such symptoms are normal human responses to abnormal and inhuman treatment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irct.org/what-is-torture/defining-torture.aspx |title= What is torture? |publisher=IRCT |accessdate=7 October 2010}}</ref>

Organizations like [[Freedom from Torture]] and the [[Center for Victims of Torture]] try to help survivors of torture obtain medical treatment and to gain [[forensic]] medical [[evidence (law)|evidence]] to obtain [[refugee|political asylum]] in a safe country and/or to prosecute the perpetrators.

Torture is often difficult to prove, particularly when some time has passed between the event and a medical examination, or when the torturers are immune from prosecution. Many torturers around the world use methods designed to have a maximum psychological impact while leaving only minimal physical traces. Medical and Human Rights Organizations worldwide have collaborated to produce the [[Istanbul Protocol]], a document designed to outline common torture methods, consequences of torture, and medico-legal examination techniques. Typically deaths due to torture are shown in an autopsy as being due to "natural causes" like heart attack, inflammation, or embolism due to extreme [[stress (medicine)|stress]].<ref>
{{Cite web
|url=http://action.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/102405/
|title=Autopsy reports reveal homicides of detainees in U.S. custody
|publisher=ACLU
}}</ref>

For survivors, torture often leads to lasting [[mental health|mental]] and physical health problems.

Physical problems can be wide-ranging, e.g. [[sexually transmitted diseases]], musculo-skeletal problems, [[Traumatic brain injury|brain injury]], post-traumatic [[epilepsy]] and [[dementia]] or chronic pain syndromes.

Mental health problems are equally wide-ranging; common are [[post-traumatic stress disorder]], [[clinical depression|depression]] and [[anxiety disorder]].
Psychic deadness, erasure of [[intersubjectivity]], refusal of meaning-making, perversion of [[agency (philosophy)|agency]], and an inability to bear desire constitute the core features of the post-traumatic psychic landscape of torture.<ref name="Nguyen">{{Cite journal| author =Nguyen L. |title=The question of survival: the death of desire and the weight of life | journal = Am J Psychoanal | volume = 67 | issue = 1 |pages=53–67|year=2007 | pmid = 17510619 | doi = 10.1057/palgrave.ajp.3350007}}</ref>

{{quotation| The most terrible, intractable, legacy of torture is the killing of desire - that is , of curiosity, of the impulse for connection and meaning-making, of the capacity for mutuality, of the tolerance for ambiguity and ambivalence. For these patients, to know another mind is unbearable. To connect with another is irrelevant. They are entrapped in what was born(e) during their trauma, as they perpetuate the erasure of meaning, re-enact the dynamics of annihilation through sadomasochistic, narcissistic, paranoid, or self-deadening modes of relating, and mobilize their agency toward warding off mutuality, goodness, hope and connection. In brief, they live to prove death. And it is this perversion of agency and desire that constitutes the deepest post-traumatic injury, and the most invisible and pernicious of human-rights violations.<ref name="Nguyen"/>}}

On 19 August 2007, the [[American Psychology Association]] (APA) voted to bar participation, to intervene to stop, and to report involvement in a wide variety of interrogation techniques as torture, including "using [[mock execution]]s, simulated drowning, sexual and religious humiliation, stress positions or sleep deprivation", as well as "the exploitation of prisoners' phobias, the use of mind-altering drugs, [[hooding]], forced nakedness, the use of dogs to frighten detainees, exposing prisoners to extreme heat and cold, physical assault and threatening the use of such techniques against a prisoner or a prisoner's family."<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/19/AR2007081901513.html APA Rules on Interrogation Abuse]</ref>

However, the APA rejected a stronger resolution that sought to prohibit “all psychologist involvement, either direct or indirect, in any interrogations at U.S. detention centers for foreign detainees or citizens detained outside normal legal channels.” That resolution would have placed the APA alongside the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association in limiting professional involvement in such settings to direct patient care. The APA echoed the Bush administration by condemning isolation, sleep deprivation, and sensory deprivation or over-stimulation only when they are likely to cause lasting harm.

Psychiatric treatment of torture-related medical problems might require a wide range of expertise and often specialized experience. Common treatments are [[psychotropic]] [[medication]], e.g. [[selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor|SSRI]] [[antidepressants]], [[counseling]], [[Cognitive Behavioural Therapy]], [[family systems therapy]] and [[physiotherapy]].

:''See [[Psychology of torture]] for psychological impact, and aftermath, of torture.''

==Rehabilitation==

The aim of rehabilitation is to empower the torture victim to resume as full a life as possible. Rebuilding the life of someone whose dignity has been destroyed takes time and as a result long-term material, medical, psychological and social support is needed.<ref name="Rehabilitation">{{cite web|title=Rehabilitation|url=http://www.irct.org/what-is-torture/rehabilitation.aspx|work=What is torture?|publisher=International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)|accessdate=23 March 2011}}</ref>

Treatment must be a coordinated effort that covers both physical and psychological aspects. It is important to take into consideration the patients' needs, problems, expectations, views and cultural references.<ref name="Rehabilitation"/>

The consequences of torture are likely to be influenced by many internal and external factors. Therefore, rehabilitation needs to employ different treatment approaches, taking into account the victims' individual needs, as well as the cultural, social and political environment.<ref name="Rehabilitation"/>

Rehabilitation centres around the world, notably the members of the [[International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims]], commonly offer multi-disciplinary support and counselling, including:
*medical attention / psychotherapeutic treatment
*psychosocial support / trauma treatment
*legal services and redress
*social reintegration.
In the case of asylum seekers and refugees, the services also may include assisting in documentation of torture for the asylum decision, language classes and help in finding somewhere to live and work.<ref name="Rehabilitation"/>

===Rehabilitation of secondary survivors===
In the worst case, torture can affect several generations. The physical and mental after-effects of torture often place great strain on the entire family and society. Children are particularly vulnerable. They often suffer from feelings of guilt or personal responsibility for what has happened. Therefore, other members of the survivor’s family – in particular the spouse and children – are also offered treatment and counselling.<ref name="Rehabilitation"/>

===Broken societies===
In some instances, whole societies can be more or less traumatized where torture has been used in a systematic and widespread manner. In general, after years of [[Social repression|repression]], [[wikt:conflict|conflict]] and [[war]], regular support networks and structures have often been broken or destroyed.<ref name="Rehabilitation"/>

Providing [[peer support|psychosocial support]] and [[redress]] to survivors of torture and trauma can help reconstruct broken societies.<ref>[http://www.uk.rct.dk/media/1195332/fieldmanual_ver1.pdf Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims: Field Manual on Rehabilitation (2007)]</ref> "Rehabilitation centres therefore play a key role in promoting democracy, co-existence and respect for human rights. They provide support and hope, and act as a symbol of triumph over the manmade terror of torture which can hold back the development of democracy of entire societies."<ref name="Rehabilitation"/>

==See also==
{{Portal|Human rights}}
* [[Capital punishment]]
* [[Center for Victims of Torture]]
* [[Civil rights]]
* [[Counter-insurgency]]
* ''[[Death by a Thousand Cuts (book)|Death by a Thousand Cuts]]''
* [[Enhanced interrogation techniques]]
* [[Famine]]
* [[Freedom from Torture]]
* [[Genocide]]
* [[Human Rights]]
* [[International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims]]
* [[Peine forte et dure]]
* [[Physicians for Human Rights]]
* [[Political violence]]
* [[Program for Torture Victims]]
* [[Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims]]
* [[Torture (journal)]]
* [[Torture trade]]
* [[International Day in Support of Victims of Torture|UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture]]
* [[War]]
* [[World Organisation Against Torture]]

==Notes==
;Footnotes
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|group=nb}}

;Citations
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*Parry, John T. (2010). ''Understanding Torture: Law, Violence, and Political Identity''. Ann Arbor, MI: [[University of Michigan Press]]. ISBN 978-0-472-05077-2.
* {{Cite book|author=Schmid, Alex P.; Crelinsten, Ronald D. |title=The politics of pain: torturers and their masters |publisher= [[Westview Press]] |location=Boulder, Colo |year=1994 |pages= |isbn=0-8133-2527-7 |oclc= |doi=}}
* {{Cite book|author=Waldron, Jeremy; Colin Dayan |title=The Story of Cruel and Unusual (Boston Review Books) |publisher= [[MIT Press]] |location=Cambridge, Mass |year= 2007|pages= |isbn=0-262-04239-8 |oclc= |doi=}}
* Reddy, Peter (2005). ''Torture: What You Need to Know'', Ginninderra Press, Canberra, Australia. ISBN 1-74027-322-2
* {{Cite book|author=Levinson, Sanford |title=Torture: A Collection |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]], USA |location= |year= 2006|pages= |isbn=0-19-530646-5 |oclc= |doi=}}2010
* {{Cite book|author=Scarry, Elaine |title=The body in pain the making and unmaking of the world |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |year=1985 |pages= |isbn=0-19-504996-9 |oclc= |doi= |authorlink= Elaine Scarry}}
* {{Cite book|author=Conroy, John |title=Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture |publisher= [[University of California Press]] |location=California |year=2001 |pages= |isbn= 0-520-23039-6 |oclc= |doi=}}
* {{Cite book|author=Rejali, D. M. |title=Torture & Modernity: Self, Society, and State in Modern Iran |publisher= [[Westview Press]] |location=Boulder |year=1994}}
* {{Cite book|author=Vreeland, James Raymond |title=Political Institutions and Human Rights: Why Dictatorships enter into the United Nations Convention Against Torture |publisher= [[International Organization]] |year=2008 |pages=62(1):65–101 }}
* {{Cite book|author=Wantchekon, L. and A. Healy |title=The "Game" of Torture |publisher= [[Journal of Conflict Resolution]] |year=1999 |pages=43(5): 596–609 }}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisource index}}
*[http://www.medievalwarfare.info/torture.htm Medieval Torture] - Development, equipment and techniques in Europe
*[http://voyager.library.uvic.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=2112314 Chinese Methods of Torture and Execution Photograph collection] at University of Victoria, Special Collections
*[http://www.cpt.coe.int/en/database.htm CPT Database] (by the [[European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment]])
*[http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/what-we-do/17/publications Freedom from Torture] (mostly free) publications and research
*[http://tortureaccountability.org Center for Torture Accountability] - History of the Bush torture regime
*[http://www.atlas-of-torture.org/ Atlas of Torture] - Overview of the situation of torture and ill-treatment around the world (by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (BIM) in Vienna, Austria)
*[http://www.china-underground.com/magazine/50-western-depictions-of-crime-and-punishment-during-qing-dinasty/ 25 Western Depictions of Crime and Punishment during Qing Dinasty] - Collection of 51 images on crime and punishment in late Imperial China.
*[http://www.irct.org/ The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (based in Copenhagen, Denmark)]
{{Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights}}
{{Particular human rights}}
{{abuse}}

[[Category:Torture| ]]
[[Category:Abuse]]
[[Category:Crimes against humanity]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses]]
[[Category:Violence]]
[[Category:Morality]]
[[Category:Criminal law]]
[[Category:Philosophy of law]]

Revision as of 20:52, 30 October 2013

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