Torture is absolutely prohibited and constitutes one of the core crimes under international law. will stand as a foundational text in the continuing effort to set the study of torture on sound scholarly foundations, marking out a new line of social scientific inquiry. Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today. There are multiple historical examples of this. As a candidate, President Trump was known to tout the effectiveness of torture. Most likely those under such extreme duress will say whatever they think interrogators want to hear to get the torture to end. The study, entitled, ‘The Who, What, and Why of Human Intelligence Gathering: Self-Reported Measures of Interrogation Methods’, found that rapport and relationship building techniques were reported to be the most effective regardless of the interrogation goal. never uncontroversial, dividing colleagues, demoralising comrades in arms, and stripping much-needed legitimacy in the eyes of a wary and sceptical public from those Shane O’Mara, Professor of Experimental Brain Research at Trinity College, Dublin, reviews available evidence on torture, interrogation, and brain function under stress. If torture simply doesn’t work, all those difficult questions are moot. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all used torture. This research found that the acceptableness of torture changes when someone they love is involved. Why Torture Doesn’t Work has a specific origin, says its author Shane O’Mara, professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The authors of the study point out that the FBI’s top stated priorities are terrorism and counter-intelligence. effect. When participants felt personally close to the victim in the scenario, over 80% of them endorsed the use of torture. Rather, their research confirms that rapport-building efforts were associated with disclosure. The Who, What, and Why of Human Intelligence Gathering: Self-Reported Measures of Interrogation Methods, Applied Cognitive Psychology Volume 28, Issue 6 November/December 2014 Pages 817–828, Allison D. Redlich, Christopher E. Kelly, Jeaneé C. Miller, Interviewing High Value Detainees: Securing Cooperation and Disclosures, Applied Cognitive Psychology Volume 28, Issue 6 November/December 2014 Pages 883–897, Jane Goodman-Delahunty, Natalie Martschuk, Mandeep K. Dhami, What People Think About Torture: Torture Is Inherently Bad … Unless It Can Save Someone I Love, Journal of Applied Security Research, 2013, 8, 429-454. The Pentagon organised a viewing in 2003. This book tackles this age-old question head on in a new way, employing mathematical game theory – but reserving the math for the appendices. Does Torture Work? Rapport-building efforts also resulted in faster disclosure. Is torture ever acceptable? The adjective “medieval” prompts a mental image – in part due to the film Pulp Fiction – of barbarous implements used to force people to divulge something they would rather keep silent about. The C.I.A.’s Claims and What the Committee Found The C.I.A.’s Claims and What the Committee Found By MATT APUZZO , HAEYOUN PARK and LARRY BUCHANAN DEC. 9, … In ancient times, (and probably sadly in modern times as well) a slow form of torture was used that involved tying someone up, holding them in place, and letting water slowly drip on their head for hours, even days. There is overwhelming evidence (detailed in my new book, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation) that the extreme stressors employed during torture force the … “You can always make someone talk … The problem is what they say,” one of Saddam Hussein’s former torturers said when he was interviewed in a Kurdish jail in 2003. Zero Dark Thirty Says "YesWellMaybe?DefinitelyCouldBeUnlessNot?" and Peter Bruggen, M.D. No. Courts recognise this and will not admit evidence obtained in such circumstances. Each chapter combines real world examples with clear deductive reasoning, setting aside quixotic and mythical reasoning. Free app on google play store entitled 'Raj Persaud in conversation', The "Sexy Sons" Theory of What Women Are Attracted to in Men. A Sociolegal Assessment of the Practice in Historical and Global Perspective By Newsweek Staff On 9/20/09 at 8:00 PM EDT. Does Torture Work? Does it really save lives? Although various polls differ in their precise findings, generally speaking there is a rough consensus that only one third of Americans say that they think the Government should use torture against suspected terrorists. It is unlikely he has the slightest idea of how expensive that thinking may prove to be. This may not bother the interrogators, but it should bother any of their superiors – right up to the commander-in-chief – who hopes to secure an eventual conviction. Does torture work? Police in the United States have used torture to obtain confessions, but did so unlawfully. But no interrogation works reliably. Share. In a study entitled, ‘Interviewing High Value Detainees: Securing Cooperation and Disclosures’, also published in the academic journal ‘Applied Cognitive Psychology’, detainees were 14 times more likely to disclose information early in an interview when practitioners utilized rapport-building compared with when rapport was not used. Many torturers develop emotional problems, become alcoholics, beat their families and harbor a deep sense of betrayal toward the … There is a substantial body of sociolegal literature that addresses torture's illegality. Psychologists Allison Redlich, Christopher Kelly and Jeanee Miller recently published a survey of 152 military and federal-level interrogators from the USA. https://www.psychologytoday.com/.../201701/does-torture-work These were stone cold killers who had … It can work. This supposed conspiracy was eventually found to have been based on an internet article Padilla once read, and was utterly insubstantial. Senior US defence officials and soldiers watched the film again several years later. But Donald Trump and his supporters might argue that is all well and good, but suppose you need to extract information rapidly because of some acute emergency or crisis where deaths will be averted, but only if information is obtained quickly, without the luxury of time for ‘rapport building’? Torture tends to produce false information, ambiguous information, misleading information, or no information at all. Besides being cruel and inhumane, torture does not work the way torturers assume it does. Bellaby, 5. This figure is quoted in a recent psychology study published in the ‘Journal of Applied Security Research’. Even tactically, let alone morally, this is a problem. A country that tortures has to deal with scores, hundreds, even thousands of brutalised, traumatised individuals afterwards. The Iraq war could be seen as one gigantic example of the kind of disaster arising from false intelligence. But this seems to directly contradict the latest psychological research into what professional interrogators themselves really believe to be effective methods. It debases us to others in the world - who lose respect for our values and grow to … Psychology Today © 2021 Sussex Publishers, LLC, Source: This image is in the public domain in the United States because it is ineligible for copyright. Neuroscience:Torture Doesn't Work and Here's Why. Torture, while widely illegal and a violation of international law, has been frequently cited as generating false or misleading information, and lacks scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness. Ibid, 457–58. While reconstructing all the possible scenarios through game theory, the author compares these kinds of games to case studies from the real world, to point out that torture – as it occurs in the real world – does not work. But there is a path through this conundrum. A Socio-Legal Assessment of the Practice . A review of CIA records found that the initial intelligence obtained, as well as the information the CIA identified as the most critical – or the most valuable – on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti, was not related to the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques,” the committee’s report said. Indeed, the waterboarding of a former California gang member turned junior militant called José Padilla in 2002 resulted in a scare about a “dirty bomb” targeting the US. Act on the lead and you could miss the real explosion, which the subject of the torture might not know anything about, or waste valuable resources and time. So the temptations are clear, and reinforced by dozens of films, TV series and books in which crucial facts are beaten out of prisoners by tough but righteous mavericks with no time for liberal objections. If constant use over thousands of years of human history indicates efficacy then he might seem to be right. The authors of this study conclude that we often assume that liberals oppose torture: Yet these results suggest that, while they do oppose it at higher levels than do conservatives, both groups are equally affected by the personal closeness of the victim. It debases all of us in whose name it is conducted. in Historical and Global Perspective. Does Torture Work? Rejali, “Torture and Democracy,” 457. The only reliable way to extract information, as experienced interrogators such as Ali Soufan, one of the lead FBI investigators after 9/11, have repeatedly said, is to build a rapport with a subject. All these issues, so blithely ignored by the proponents of torture, are important. In this scenario, there is supposedly a bomb set to detonate in a populated city, causing catastrophic loss of innocent life. The pursuit of calm can itself become a major stressor, especially if you've already tried the standard prescriptions. Can someone tell me where the mutilated body of Samuel Doe is buried. It doesn’t just debase its victims or those who perpetrate it. your “DOES TORTURE WORK?” The Trump is already showing limited knowledge of anything outside his direct experience and values: executive orders can be subject to judicial review. In an ideal case scenario, when all the conditions are satisfied and – if and … By Eileen Jones Lotta controversy surrounding the movie Zero Dark Thirty, as was indicated at the Golden Globe Awards last night. Does torture work? 6 Torture may get people to do things they don’t want to do, but this does not mean it extracts real information. Then there are the consequences for the institutions concerned – the CIA, the military, whoever. The CIA claimed it was. In fact, the more efforts interrogators made to build rapport with the suspect (e.g., showing liking, concern, and humour), the greater the amount of information was disclosed by the suspect. This time they took away a different lesson. Donald Trump believes so. Pictures taken by U.S. military personnel as part of that person's official duties are ineligible for copyright in the United States. The first problem is that it is extremely difficult to gather useful and actionable information from an individual under torture. This study explored people’s attitude to torture in the classic ‘ticking time bomb’ predicament. The study, published in the academic journal ‘Applied Cognitive Psychology’, examined the views of professional interrogators on the effectiveness of grilling methods. Soufan did this with Abu Zubaydah, a senior al-Qaida logistician, and extracted useful information such as the name of the operational mastermind of the 9/11 plot, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Much of this information was gathered electronically, much came from partners (including some that use torture systematically), some came from so-called open sources, and much came from people convinced without physical coercion to give up information. Doe was evil in him self but treating him that way did not make yormie an angel.His day must quickly come so that justice can be seen to have been done. Interrogational torture’s effectiveness is a necessary condition for its justification by utilitarian proponents. These are not poor innocent civilians who were being interrogated by the Nazis or KGB for crimes against the state. Anything said under duress is inherently unreliable. Even if that person does give up some information, their memory could be corrupted by the stress. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on … Lisa Hajjar . Raj Persaud, M.D., is a Consultant Psychiatrist working in private practice in the UK. The French won a short-term victory that partially depended on torture, but, in the long run, they suffered a devastating defeat in Algeria within six years. Law and Society Program . Experienced interrogators and intelligence experts say that using torture and abuse in interrogations is not an effective way to elicit reliably truthful information. The use of torture is never uncontroversial, dividing colleagues, demoralising comrades in arms, and stripping much-needed legitimacy in the eyes of a wary and sceptical public from those supposedly fighting on their behalf. But even if you are personally against torture, and therefore appalled by this new turn in US policy, perhaps the assured populist that is Donald Trump is yet again correctly taking the temperature of the population over the ‘prissy’ media? … The authors, Jane Goodman-Delahunty, Natalie Martschuk and Mandeep Dhami, concluded that coercive interrogation strategies had no impact on detainee cooperation or information disclosure. Trump may believe “torture works”. If it’s true, we don’t have to wrestle with any moral or legal dilemmas. The bomber refuses to divulge any information. Torture is the calculated infliction of pain, but it is also an emblem of state power. The ‘purpose’ of torture is in fact NOT to ‘obtain useful information,’ but produce ‘controlled confessions’ which can be used for the purpose of propaganda. Participants in this kind of research must decide whether or not torturing is justified under these circumstances. So maybe this recent torture statement is a public relations gaffe by Donald Gaffe? There is only one thing that we know about torture that works for certain: torture debases us. The precise location of these explosives are unknown, but authorities have captured the terrorist who planted them. Donald Trump has said he would be open to bringing back torture because he "absolutely" believes it works, claiming that "people at the highest level of intelligence" have confirmed to him that torture does work. Their systematic use of torture played a significant part in their failure to keep the colony. The counterargument claims to point to some specific cases where torture has elicited true information. I am reminded by the 70’s movie Rapport-based techniques include finding common ground with the detainee, demonstrating kindness and respect, and meeting their basic needs for example, food and water. Surveying professional interrogators in the USA and other countries reveals that ‘rapport-based’ interrogation techniques are viewed as generally the most effective, not torture. A Senate committee that investigated those claims said it was not. But according to interrogators and even the CIA, torture does not work to get reliable information. Torture is hard, stressful work. Brody in Evans, 62. Nothing they obtained proved that Soufan’s approach was the wrong one. It is difficult to gather useful information through torture, and attempting to do so can have far-reaching consequences, Last modified on Thu 7 Jan 2021 00.08 GMT. At first, nothing happens. So, does torture work? It traumatised tens of thousands of service personnel, undermined domestic support for the army – and thus the war – radicalised and motivated the enemy, tarnished the reputation of France as a democracy around the world, and had deeply unhealthy consequences for France as a nation for decades afterwards. University of California – Santa Barbara . But there is no conclusive evidence that the torture of al-Qaida suspects such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was waterboarded dozens of times, was the key element that allowed Bin Laden to be located and killed. Vote and explain what you think are the most important pros and cons of torture and whether it should be used. The US has paid many of these costs over the past decade, and is still paying them. It poisoned relations with the newly free Algeria and continues to harm French diplomatic relations across the region and beyond. Does torture work? The book draws on historical accounts, previously secret CIA documents in the war on terrorism, and the proposals advanced by torture … Duke and Van Puyvelde, “Enhanced Interrogations’ Don’t Work as Well as Regular Ones.” O’Mara, “Why Torture Doesn’t Work.” Carter in Evans, 57. “Within days of the raid on [Bin Laden’s] compound, CIA officials represented that CIA detainees provided the ‘tipoff’ information on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti [a crucial courier]. These are significant enough to outweigh any tactical gain, should there actually be any. The intelligence that permitted this successful operation originated from multiple streams over more than a decade, and from the work of thousands of analysts. 64 persons from five countries comprising 34 law enforcement practitioners experienced in conducting interviews with high value detainees, and 30 people who had been questioned following their detention for alleged terror related activities, were interviewed by psychologists from Charles Sturt University, Australia, and Middlesex University, UK. 3 Torture is Illegal and Cannot Be Justified. Ibid. Torture does not work. The use of coercion, including the inflicting of pain and extreme discomfort, to extract information has been attractive to those charged with protecting the public – as well as to criminals, psychopaths, warlords, dictators and sadists, for as long as any have existed. Chapter 13 of the text begins with a summary of what has come before; after stating that torture does not work, Schiemann goes on to say: Does saying it does not work mean it can never work? So, recruiting professional interrogators from the FBI/High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) and active interrogators at Fort Huachuca, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Marine Corps Interrogator Translator Teams Association, and the FBI training facility at Quantico, the authors believed the findings of their study would be generalizable to human intelligence practices of the US military and federal agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency. Firstly, there is the cost to the torturers, however little pity we feel for them. The reality is rather more complicated, as even toughened intelligence professionals will admit. Because torture has immense costs. As Shane O'Mara's account of the neuroscience of suffering reveals, extreme stress creates profound problems for memory, mood, and thinking, and sufferers predictably produce information that is deeply unreliable, or even counterproductive and dangerous. The main problem with using torture as a means of obtaining reliable information is illustrated by the following true story. In contrast, confrontation techniques were utilized the least often and viewed as the least effective by these interrogation professionals. Interrogating suspects in a comfortable physical setting also increased disclosure of incriminating information, and the authors argue this is possibly because this fosters a relationship. The respondents involved in the survey included the FBI, active duty military or reserves, state or local police, military criminal investigation, Department of Homeland Security, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. The issue isn’t just that you want people to ‘talk’, which seems to be a fundamental driver with some interrogators, perhaps even Donald Trump, but you want them to talk reliably. Raj Persaud, M.D. When states and governments use torture to achieve … Personality Can Be Changed at Work: Why and How. False information which sends you off on a wild goose chase, ties up valuable resources, often leading to even more disastrous consequences. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded dozens of times by the CIA. He and Peter Bruggen, M.D., are part of the UK Royal College of Psychiatrist's Podcast Editor Team. "Does Torture Work? Does Torture Work? 2 . This recent study quoting the national poll data was conducted by Shannon Houck and Lucian Gideon Conway from Syracuse University and the University of Montana, USA. Unless it Can Save Someone I Love’, found that relatively fewer people were willing to support torture against a suspect if the innocent lives at stake were distant strangers, compared with if the innocents were close loved ones. Torture does not work reliably. The administration of George W Bush, which allowed systematic torture in CIA detention centres and elsewhere from 2002-08, was influenced by lessons drawn from the Gillo Pontecorvo film The Battle of Algiers, in which French troops fighting Islamists and nationalists in the north African city in 1956 use torture to extract information that is used to significant tactical effect. Torture does NOT work, at least not in terms of producing reliable and useful information that was previously unobtainable. Was waterboarded dozens of times by the proponents of torture to even more disastrous consequences chaos in and... Is still paying them Dark Thirty Says `` YesWellMaybe? 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