A Moral Investigation of Torture in the Post 9.11 World

Undergraduate Review Volume 6 Article 24 2010 A Moral Investigation of Torture in the Post 9.11 World Joe Moloney Follow this and additional works at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/undergrad_rev Part of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, and the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Moloney, Joe (2010). A Moral Investigation of Torture in the Post 9.11 World. Undergraduate Review, 6, 132-138. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/undergrad_rev/vol6/iss1/24 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Copyright © 2010 Joe Moloney A Moral Investigation of Torture in the Post 9.11 World JOE MOLONEY Joe is a junior studying criminal justice and philosophy. He feels that this research was a great opportunity to blend both fields of study. Currently he is enrolled in a directed study with Dr. Olson of the Department of Criminal Justice learning how to map crime and analyze crime data. Joe is applying for a summer grant to study the relationship between robberies and drug offenses using a spatial analysis. He is looking forward to applying to graduate schools in the fall. T he field of philosophy is unique, as it allows one to logically examine issues in all disciplines, from science to politics to art. One further important discipline that philosophy examines is criminal justice. In this respect, one approach philosophy can take when examining criminal justice is to assess each issue by questioning its morality—that is, whether an action within the issue is right or wrong based upon a system of ethics. This approach concerns the subfield of philosophy known as ethics, a subfield that includes questions concerning what is morally good and morally bad. When one is faced with an ethical situation, one must decide whether or not the action is morally good. It is important for one to understand that these issues in question, especially those in the field of criminal justice, provide great topics for debate and discussion. It is within these debates and discussions that individuals support their beliefs of the morality of an action with ethical systems. It is crucial, for the sake of argument, that the individuals involved agree on the definitions and understanding of terminology used to avoid miscommunication. As this research concerns the issue of torture in a post9/11 society, I will clearly define torture, suspected terrorist and interrogation in the context I wish to use each term. Torture is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession (Hamm, 2007). In regards to who is being tortured, I shall focus on suspected terrorists which, in this case, are those that are believed to have any information regarding terrorist activities, those that harbor terrorists and those that commit acts of terror according to U.S. intelligence. Finally, these acts of torture of suspected terrorists usually occur during sessions of interrogation. I define interrogation as any point in which a suspect is being questioned or asked to provide information on any event surrounding acts of terror, terrorist activities or one’s involvement with those that commit acts of terror. Part I: Literature Review The issue of torture has been the focal point of discussion of researchers both in the field of ethics and in the field of criminal justice. In order to fully understand the issue of torture, one must become acquainted with several aspects that are involved. These aspects include the laws that prohibit/inhibit torture, torture typology, techniques that are used for retrieving information 132 • THE UNDERGRADUATE REVIEW • 2010 BRIDGEWATER STATE COLLEGE from the suspects, the personnel that apply these techniques, the victims of torture and the locations of the acts of torture. There is a great collection of literature, research and discussion on the issue of torture, as well as the surrounding aspects previously mentioned, of which this portion of my work is dedicated. The laws regarding torture in the United States have been the focus of debate in the last decade, more specifically, since September 11, 2001. Though the focus is fairly recent, the laws that are scrutinized regarding torture date back to those constructed by the framers of the U.S. Constitution in 1776. After the Declaration of Independence, many colonies wrote state constitutions using Virginia’s state constitution as the model (Skoll, 2008). Virginia dedicated section eight of their state constitution specifically to self incrimination. As stated in section Eight, “…nor can he [the citizen of the state] be compelled to give evidence against himself ” (as cited in Schwartz, 1971). Although this law was created in the eighteenth century by the framers of the U.S. Constitution, there has been a great deal of controversial issues surrounding it. Take, for example, the case of Brown v. Mississippi (1936). This case was ruled in favor of the defendant, Ed Brown, who was charged with the murder of Raymond Stewart. The defendant was one of three black males that were beaten, hung and tortured by the sheriff and other people gathered at the crime scene (Brown v. Mississippi, 1936). Brown was tortured and beaten until he admitted to the murder of Raymond Stewart. After a series of appeals, the Supreme Court ruled that Brown’s Fourteenth Amendment right to due process and Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination had been violated, and so the decision was reversed. This was the first case in which the Supreme Court reversed a decision based on torture (Skoll, 2008). The next case in which the court more clearly defined torture, and a stronger foundation for which future rulings could rely upon, is the case of Chambers v. Florida (1940). In this case, the court ruled that any act of persistent questioning, which is different than prior cases because this one concerns non-physical events, is considered an illegal act that is comparable or even equivalent to torture (Khasin, 2009). One must understand that in regards to the laws prohibiting torture that the court, in this case, did not make a ruling based on a specific torture law; rather, they made their ruling based on the results of the torturous acts which violated the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Torture, as is the case with many other practices that concern the criminal justice system, has long been studied and analyzed. In order to obtain a better understanding of torture and its intentions, one must become acquainted with torture typology. There are three types of torture, as illustrated in the work by Christopher Tindale, The Logic of Torture: A Critical Examination (1996). The three types of torture are interrogational torture, BRIDGEWATER STATE COLLEGE deterrent torture and dehumanizing torture (Tindale, 1996) (...truncated)