Understanding torture : law, violence, and political identity / John T. Parry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parry, John, author.

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Torture (International law).

Torture--United States.

Torture.

Violence--United States.

Violence.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (329 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Prohibiting torture will not end it. In Understanding Torture, John T. Parry explains that torture is already a normal part of the state coercive apparatus. Torture is about dominating the victim for a variety of purposes, including public order; control of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities; and -- critically -- domination for the sake of domination. Seen in this way, Abu Ghraib sits on a continuum with contemporary police violence in U.S. cities; violent repression of racial minorities throughout U.S. history; and the exercise of power in a variety of political, social, and interpersonal contacts. Creating a separate category for an intentionally narrow set of practices labeled and banned as torture, Parry argues, serves to normalize and legitimate the remaining practices that are "not torture." Consequently, we must question the hope that law can play an important role in regulating state violence. -- Publisher description

Contents:

Torture and international law

The European law of torture

Torture and state violence in U.S. law

Torture, rights, and the modern state

Torture in modern democracies

U.S. torture at home and abroad

Torture in the War on Terror.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9786613011572

9781283011570

1283011573

9780472021789

0472021788

OCLC:

707284869