Torture?!

[Attalus]

What do the police say? "You may beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride."

[Gangrell]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: It is certainly the case that the cops *can* and *do* use the old "interrogate for 12 straight hours" routine and threats and, yes, lies are allowed too, to get the info from the criminal.

Wohh, Michael Crow flashback. Twelve hours of interrigation I guess is their way of making someone give in just to get out of such a confined room. But it will also make someone completely innocent (Michael Crow) submit after weeks on end of doing it. I say if torture has to be used, it's a must, it's better to use physical than mental, because mentally you can mess up a person's mind.

[harleyquinn]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Attalus and Melusine are right. It is certainly the case that the cops *can* and *do* use the old "interrogate for 12 straight hours" routine and threats and, yes, lies are allowed too, to get the info from the criminal. If this technique is good enough to get coerced false murder confessions, then it can get any piece of information. Plus, let's not forget that the guy could accidently *fall* and knock out a tooth or two on the concrete floor. What I'm saying is, if we make blatant torture legal we open the door to abuse by those who ostensibly protect us.

Any one who doesn't think this will result in false confessions, read up on the case of the Central Park Jogger Rape. Those kids served years in prison before someone else finally admitted to doing it. The video tapes showed that the police used many of the tricks TL mentioned above to get those confessions.
Before anyone thinks that torture would be ok, keep in mind that it one day could be you and how much torture would you endure before you falsely admitted to a crime you didn't commit just to get the torture to stop?
Well, this guy would like it, [img]graemlins/whipitgood.gif[/img] but otherwise ... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Harkoliar]

i feel uneasy that people would use torture..what if he is innocent.. what if he was blackmailed or setup by enemies?? you can never really know if he is guilty right away... i for am trying to remember the phrase "innocent until proven guilty".. not "guilty till proven innocent"

[Stratos]

Cops are probably already using dirty tricks like lying to get people to confess, such as "You might as well confess right away, your partner in the next room have already described what happened" ( or maybe I´ve seen too many movies )

If we would allow torture ( in this case we don´t know if the cops were serious about the threat) what would happen if the torture-victim was innocent. "Oh sorry there buddy, eh... I´ll...oh let me help you find all your teeth...there you are, I believe that was all of them."

It is true though that torture is a very effective method that are still used in some countries.
On the other hand a guy being tortured would admitt to anything sooner or later.

[Mojo]

The problem with torture lies in corruption, and the lack of certainty. If you're wrongfully arrested, it's nice to know that at least they can't physically hurt you. If you're wrongfully arrested, how can you give information you don't know?

[Spelca]

No, no torture. If I were arrested and wouldn't be guilty, and they would torture me, I'd probabaly confess to anything they'd want after a few seconds... I agree with the people here that you are innocent until proven guilty, and some innocent people do confess because they are tortured, even though they haven't done anything.

[Gnarf]

It depends, if the kidnapper confessed or was proved guilty, and they then threaten to beat him senseless, to save the boy's life... I think I'm fine with it (in these kinda 'matter of life or death'-cases). But torturing someone to make them confess, that's just sick, and it'll, as mentioned, cause false confessions...

[pritchke]

Torture????

What have you people been smoking?

This is a slippery slope, the reason is how far do we go? possibly to save a kid, to enforce national security, to find the loot, a better question is were do we draw the line.

The funny thing is the same people who are for torture, and capital punishment, condemn the butcher Saddam, and the Taliban for using these methods to enforce other countries archaic rules.

You people can't have it both ways. The world is obviously gone mad.

[Larry_OHF]

No, we just like teasing with you and getting everybody stirred up.