Verified Document

Ethics Involving Torture Of Humans Term Paper

Torture and Ethics Human torture has forever been and will remain ethically incorrect, wicked, unfair, and inappropriate. According to free- world ethicality standards, torture of the adversary’s highly valuable entities or soldiers is unacceptable. Besides infringing international regulation that opposes these practices, human torture constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights. It is a kind of brutal, rare punishment by all standards notwithstanding outcome. Torturing a person can be justified only if it helps save several other lives; nevertheless, it still remains wrong and immoral. Utilitarians alone consider torture to be ethically acceptable (Putra, 2015). The above perspective belongs to the world’s dark ages and must remain there. It doesn’t exemplify current moral standards. Some persons support the notion of torture to one for protecting many. However, one issue with it is, one cannot guarantee end outcomes (Galvin, 2008). Extreme measures force people to spill their secrets and do anything to put an end to their pain.

A torturer’s ethical standards fall to the level of their opponent and the long- term outcome of this act is, the opponent grows stronger and is galvanized further to accomplish their goal (Evans, 2007). Enemy soldiers contemplating passing on information will be deterred by the potential of getting tortured by their opponent. While other nations have indeed tortured US soldiers in the past, prisoners of war in the future could be treated worse with opponent knowledge of their own prisoners experiencing torture. Employing brutal, atypical punishments when interrogating individuals infringes human rights, rendering all proofs garnered in the process unusable at court. Criminal justice and governmental systems need to themselves abide by the law before expecting abidance on society’s part. The law is equally applicable to all US citizens and inhabitants (Evans, 2007). Bribe, deception and reasoning with an enemy proves more effective as compared to torture. Torture victims, when...

Frequently, only threatening torture to the individual him/ herself or to family members will suffice when it comes to garnering their cooperation. Modern technology renders torture an unneeded, out- of- date thing. The government may be able to conveniently gather sufficient evidence for making suspects believe they might be subject to torture, or to believe one of their loved ones has been captured and taken into custody. Law enforcement organizations are always employing deceptive tactics for making suspects err or spill the beans whilst steering clear of ethically incorrect, violent acts (Galvin, 2008). The outcome is more accurate as compared to torture, with the added advantage of no harm caused to the individual. Deeming torture to be the last resort when every other attempt has failed is a decision for authorities charged with conducting interrogations, in adherence to the law. Irrespective of the outcome, committing torture is invariably ethically and morally incorrect.
Ontological View

Torture is unjustifiable to ontological theory advocates as harming others is wrong, irrespective of outcome. The principle of freewill enables individuals to distinguish wrong from right and decide on what information to share.

Coercing individuals into divulging facts or lying is, from an ontological standpoint, morally incorrect. However, even this view doesn’t, on occasion, keep individuals from knowingly committing the wrongful act of torturing others to fulfil their goal. For instance, it may be expected of a father to torture the kidnapper of his child for having him/her safely returned, though this doesn’t mean the act is ethically or morally correct. However, this situation wouldn’t garner societal censure (Souryal, 2010).

Deontological View

The deontological perspective does…

Sources used in this document:

References

Evans, R. (2007), The Ethics of Torture, Human Rights and Human Welfare, Vol. 7, pp. 53-66.

Galvin, R. (2008). Legal Moralism and the US Supreme Court. Legal Theory, 14(2), 91-111.

Putra, B. A. (2015). US and the Lawless Age of ‘War on Terror’. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies (ISSN: 2321–2799), 3(06).

Souryal, S. S. (2010). Ethics in criminal justice: In search of the truth. Routledge.

 


Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Human Rights and Child Prostitution in Haiti
Words: 6002 Length: 20 Document Type: Essay

Human Rights and Child Prostitution in Haiti The Republic of Haiti is a Caribbean country occupying smaller portion of Hispaniola Island. It shares the island with Dominican which is equally another Caribbean country with population of just over 600, 000. In 2011, the population of the Republic of Haiti hit 9 million-mark with chances of a tremendous growth projected in the subsequent years. With the capital located at Port-au-Prince, the country's

Ethics and Morality Ethics Dilemmas
Words: 598 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

However, if I thought there was a good chance that he would follow through I would be both legally and morally obligated to warn someone. 7. The dilemma is whether or not it is okay to kill someone out of mercy to end their suffering. While I would have no problem with an individual choosing to take their own life, I do not feel that it is ethical to kill

Ethics and Technology
Words: 1821 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Ethics and Computing in Computer Science EMPOWERMENT AND RESPONSIBILITY Errors and Hazards and Their Consequences Despite the best of care and talent, computation is subject to uncertainties, which experts call "errors (Landau, 2008)." Some of these errors are man-made and some are produced by the computer itself. The four classes of errors are blunders or bad theory, random errors, approximation or algorithm errors, and round-off errors. Blunders are typographical errors or errors caused

Ethics of Prisoner Experiments Prisoner Experiments Prior
Words: 1307 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Ethics of Prisoner Experiments Prisoner Experiments Prior to the medical trial at Nuremberg physicians and scientists were largely free to conduct experiments on unsuspecting persons (Freyhofer, 2004, p. 9-10), including inmates inside America's prisons. When it was discovered that German physicians had been conducting inhumane experiments on death camp and concentration camp prisoners during WWII, the world was shocked that doctors were capable of such behavior. The American Military Tribunal in Nuremberg

Human Nature Has Been a
Words: 2811 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

He exemplifies by saying that anyone witnessing a child about to fall in a well would immediately turn to rescue the child without seeking any advantages in doing so. But while this position has been argued on the grounds that "such an example is not intended to prove that all men will actually take some action in such circumstances" (Allinson apud Chan 1996), Chan has defended Mencius by emphasizing

Ethics, Torture and Psychological Issues
Words: 3042 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

Even though the order promised prisoners would receive humane treatments, the Bush Administration said that Geneva Conventions was not applicable to them (Goldsmith, 2012, p. 39). The Detainee Treatment Act, sponsored by Senator John McCain sponsored the Detainee Treatment Act, states that "no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider…an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now