The phenomenon of torture : readings and commentary / edited and with an introduction by William F. Schulz ; foreword by Juan E. Mendez.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Schulz, William F.

University of Pennsylvania. Press.

Series:

Pennsylvania studies in human rights

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights.

Torture.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 389 pages).

Other Title:

Penn Press e-books.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2007]

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Torture is the most widespread human rights crime in the modern world, practiced in more than one hundred countries, including the United States. How could something so brutal, almost unthinkable, be so prevalent? The Phenomenon of Torture: Readings and Commentary is designed to answer that question and many others. Beginning with a sweeping view of torture in Western history, the book examines questions such as these: Can anyone be turned into a torturer? What exactly is the psychological relationship between a torturer and his victim? Are certain societies more prone to use torture? Are there any circumstances under which torture is justified-to procure critical information in order to save innocent lives, for example? How can torture be stopped or at least its incidence be reduced?

Edited and with an introduction by the former Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, The Phenomenon of Torture draws on the writings of torture victims themselves, such as the Argentinian journalist Jacobo Timerman, as well as leading scholars like Elaine Scarry, author of The Body in Pain. It includes classical works by Voltaire, Jeremy Bentham, Hannah Arendt, and Stanley Milgram, as well as recent works by historian Adam Hochschild and psychotherapist Joan Golston. And it addresses new developments in efforts to combat torture, such as the designation of rape as a war crime and the use of the doctrine of universal jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators. Designed for the student and scholar alike, it is, in sum, an anthology of the best and most insightful writing about this most curious and common form of abuse. Juan E. Mendez, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide and himself a victim of torture, provides a foreword.

Contents:

Chapter I Torture in Western History

Reading 1 / Page DuBois Torture and Truth 13

Reading 2 The Torture of Jesus 16

Reading 3 / John H. Langbein Torture and the Law of Proof 19

Reading 4 / Edward Peters Torture 27

Reading 5 / Michel Foucault Discipline and Punish 30

Reading 6 / Cesare Beccaria "An Essay on Crimes and Punishments" 34

Reading 7 / Voltaire "On Torture and Capital Punishment" 36

Reading 8 / Malcolm D. Evans, Rod Morgan Preventing Torture 38

Chapter II Being Tortured

Reading 1 / Eric Lomax The Railway Man 49

Reading 2 / Molefe Pheto And Night Fell 53

Reading 3 Statement by Abu Ghraib detainee 60

Reading 4 / Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn The Gulag Archipelago 63

Reading 5 / Lawrence Weschler A Miracle, a Universe 66

Reading 6 / Pericles Korovessis The Method 71

Reading 7 / Jean Amery "Torture" 80

Reading 8 / Susan Brownmiller Against Our Will 88

Reading 9 / Amnesty International Report Uzbekistan 95

Reading 10 / Antonia Garcia, Tomasa Cuevas Prison of Women 97

Chapter III Who Are the Torturers?

Reading 1 / Adam Hochschild King Leopold's Ghost 101

Reading 2 / Keith Atkinson "The Torturer's Tale" 104

Reading 3 / Stanley Milgram "The Perils of Obedience" 110

Reading 4 / Mika Haritos-Fatouros "The Official Torturer" 120

Reading 5 / Joan C. Golston "Ritual Abuse" 124

Reading 6 / A. J. Langguth Hidden Terrors 127

Reading 7 / Jon Drolshagen The Winter Soldier Investigation 132

Reading 8 / Jean Amery "Torture" 134

Reading 9 / Adam Hochschild "The Torturers' Notebooks" 136

Reading 10 / Paul Aussaresses The Battle of the Casbah 137

Reading 11 / Frantz Fanon The Wretched of the Earth 139

Reading 12 / Ronald Crelinsten "In Their Own Words" 141

Chapter IV The Dynamics of Torture

Reading 1 / CIA Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual 155

Reading 2 / Kate Millett The Politics of Cruelty 163

Reading 3 / Jacobo Timerman Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number 167

Reading 4 / Elaine Scarry The Body in Pain 172

Reading 5 / David Sussman "What's Wrong with Torture" 178

Reading 6 / Rhonda Copelon "Intimate Terror" 180

Chapter V The Social Context of Torture

Reading 1 / Pierre Vidal-Naquet Torture 195

Reading 2 / Hannah Arendt The Origins of Totalitarianism 196

Reading 3 / Kanan Makiya Republic of Fear 201

Reading 4 / Ervin Staub "The Psychology and Culture of Torture and Torturers" 204

Reading 5 / Ronald Crelinsten "How to Make a Torturer" 210

Reading 6 / John Conroy Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People 215

Chapter VI The Ethics of Torture

Reading 1 / Jeremy Bentham "Of Torture" 221

Reading 2 / Michael Levin "The Case for Torture" 227

Reading 3 / Richard Bernstein "Kidnapping Has Germans Debating Police Torture" 230

Reading 4 / Alan Dershowitz Why Terrorism Works 233

Reading 5 / Henry Shue "Torture" 241

Reading 6 / Sherwood F. Moran "Suggestions for Japanese Interpreters" 249

Reading 7 / Darius M. Rejali "Does Torture Work?" 255

Reading 8 / William Schulz Tainted Legacy 260

Reading 9 Landau Commission Report 267

Reading 10 Supreme Court of Israel Judgment 275

Chapter VII Healing the Victims, Stopping the Torture

Reading 1 / Lone Jacobsen, Edith Montgomery "Treatment of Victims of Torture" 285

Reading 2 / Amnesty International "Police Officers Convicted of Torturing Man in Detention" 297

Reading 3 / Minky Worden "Torture Spoken Here" 299

Reading 4 / European Court of Human Rights Aydin v. Turkey 304

Reading 5 / Amnesty International International Criminal Court Q & A Sheet 308

Reading 6 / Geoffrey Robertson "An End to Impunity" 311

Reading 7 / Geoffrey Robertson "The Case of General Pinochet" 314

Reading 8 / Richard Pierre Claude Filartiga v. Pena-Irala 325

Reading 9 / Priscilla B. Hayner "The Contribution of Truth Commissions" 333

Reading 10 / Marc DuBois "Human Rights Education for the Police" 347

Appendix Excerpts from Documents 357

Un Convention against Torture 357

International Standards Against Torture 360

U.S. Army Field Manual 363

How to Get Involved 365.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 377-379).

Other Format:

Print version: Phenomenon of torture.

ISBN:

9780812203394

0812203399

OCLC:

859160639

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.