The Torture Debate and the Toleration of Torture

The Defense of Torture

Torture and the Human Mind

iction of severe physical and emotional distress as a means of extracting information from detainees, the situation must be grave and the need for intelligence extreme. Whether understood as “enhanced interrogation” or “torture,” the process requires stepping outside the bounds of normal interrogation conduct. Evaluating the effi cacy of enhanced interrogation techniques (EIT), therefore, is vi...

Tame to Torture: Psychosexual Correlations of Sex, Violence and Torture

This paper discusses the psychosexual correlations and psychological consequences related to torture and behavioral acts that are fundamentally torturous. The influence of participation by learning and the relationship of acts to thought and thought to acts are further discussed to raise awareness to the effects of torture on the torturer. Theories from multiple disciplines are presented in an ...

Torture and the Commitment Problem

We study torture as a mechanism for extracting information from a suspect who may or may not be informed. We show that a standard rationale for torture generates two commitment problems. First, the principal would benefit from a commitment to torture a suspect he knows to be innocent. Secondly, the principal would benefit from a commitment to limit the amount of torture faced by the guilty. We ...

On the permissibility of torture.