Organized torture practiced by oppressive regimes against political enemies constitutes a serious worldwide epidemic. According to Amnesty International, 150 out of 215 countries practiced human rights abuses in 2005. The United Nations defines torture as ‘‘any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purpose as obtaining...

BACKGROUND Torture is changing in western societies, evolving from pain-producing torture to more subtle mixed psychological methods that are harder to detect. Despite this, there is not an adequate understanding of the complexities of contemporary psychological techniques used in coercive interrogation and torture. METHODS The interrogation and torture techniques used on 45 detainees held in...

There is increasing evidence to show that torture is a serious problem in the Basque Country. Whilst such evidence can be found in reports of international human rights monitoring bodies, sentences of Spanish and international courts, and empirical studies, they are limited in not having followed the Istanbul Protocol (IP) in order to evaluate the reliability of torture. A working group compose...

Does describing torture by America’s agents as a longstanding practice—part of the status quo—increase people’s acceptance of the practice? A representative sample of U.S. adults, randomly assigned to conditions in which these practices were described as new or as having been used for more than 40 years, read about the use of torture in questioning of detainees. Torture described as a longstand...

Waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and solitary confinement were some of the tactics outlined and authorized in a series of Bush Administration secret legal documents, known as the "torture memos," which were made public in 2009. Shane O'Mara's new book casts morality aside to examine whether torture produces reliable information. He reviews existing research in psychology and neuroscience to hi...

Following the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, much support for torture interrogation of terrorists has emerged in the public forum, largely based on the "ticking bomb" scenario. Although deontological and virtue ethics provide incisive arguments against torture, they do not speak directly to scientists and government officials responsible for national security in a utilit...

Macroscopic changes The significance of skin lesions is mostly related to the documentation of the history of torture. Acute lesions may give health problems, for example pain and secondary infections, including problems with healing, especially when located in an area with venous or arterial insufficiency. Scars located close to a joint may induce contracture, decreased mobility of the joint a...

This research explores the question - how do practices in key justice institutions affect the incidence and success of prosecutions of torture perpetrators in Egypt? The research question is grounded in the theory that torture prosecutions are crucial to ending the practice of torture, and based on the judgment that the number of prosecutions of torture perpetrators in Egypt is very small compa...

This research describes the development and findings of a literature review and analysis meant to inform the international torture and trauma treatment community. The review focuses on interventions that have been used among populations affected by torture, based on a review of journals indexed in commonly used search engines. Work on the review began in September 2008 and continued to be updat...

This article explores a debate over the legal mechanisms by which interrogational torture could be sanctioned. Four separate proposals are considered, including: civil disobedience; torture warrants; self-defense; and necessity. Civil disobedience does not allow for legalized torture, but may allow for reduced punishments. Torture warrants contrast with self-defense and necessity in terms of of...