Interrogational torture

Interrogational torture is the use of torture to obtain information in interrogation, as opposed to the use of torture to extract a forced confession, regardless of whether it is true or false. Torture has been used throughout history during interrogation, although it is now illegal and a violation of international law.

Beyond torture's moral repugnance, most experts who study interrogation consider torture an ineffective and counterproductive means of gathering accurate information, because it frequently generates false or misleading information and impairs subsequent information collection.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

^ Bohannon, John (27 January 2017). "Scientists to Trump: Torture doesn't work". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aal0669. Retrieved 7 March 2023. The potential moves reopen a question that most scientists considered closed: Does torture work? [...] Most experts who study interrogation, and some individuals who conducted interrogations and later went public, disagree [that torture works].
^ Lowth, M. (2017). "Does torture work? Donald Trump and the CIA". The British Journal of General Practice: The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners. 67 (656): 126. doi:10.3399/bjgp17X689701. PMC 5325643. PMID 28232351. This report concluded (as did the CIA) that torturing prisoners was not an effective means of obtaining intelligence or cooperation.
^ Otis, Pauletta (December 2006). "Educing Information: The Right Initiative at the Right Time by the Right People". In Swenson, Russell (ed.). Educing Information: Interrogation: Science and Art: Foundations for the Future (PDF). Intelligence Science Board: Phase 1 Report. National Defense Intelligence College. p. xix-xx. ...although there is no valid scientific research to back the conclusion, most professionals believe that pain, coercion, and threats are counterproductive to the elicitation of good information. The authors cite a number of psychological and behavioral studies to buttress the argument, but are forced to return to the statement: 'more research is necessary.'
^ Elliott, Carl (11 November 2015). "The neuroscience of interrogation: Why torture doesn't work". New Scientist. Retrieved 7 March 2023. Controlled studies on the effectiveness of torture would be morally abhorrent. But there is a lot of information on the psychological and physiological effects of severe pain, fear, extreme cold, sleep deprivation, confinement and near-drowning. [...] As O'Mara emphasises, torture does not produce reliable information largely because of the severity with which it impairs the ability to think. Extreme pain, cold, sleep deprivation and fear of torture itself all damage memory, mood and cognition. Torture does not persuade people to make a reasoned decision to cooperate, but produces panic, dissociation, unconsciousness and long-term neurological damage. It also produces an intense desire to keep talking to prevent further torture.

[1] Bohannon, John (27 January 2017). "Scientists to Trump: Torture doesn't work". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aal0669. Retrieved 7 March 2023. The potential moves reopen a question that most scientists considered closed: Does torture work? [...] Most experts who study interrogation, and some individuals who conducted interrogations and later went public, disagree [that torture works].

[2] Lowth, M. (2017). "Does torture work? Donald Trump and the CIA". The British Journal of General Practice: The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners. 67 (656): 126. doi:10.3399/bjgp17X689701. PMC 5325643. PMID 28232351. This report concluded (as did the CIA) that torturing prisoners was not an effective means of obtaining intelligence or cooperation.

[3] Otis, Pauletta (December 2006). "Educing Information: The Right Initiative at the Right Time by the Right People". In Swenson, Russell (ed.). Educing Information: Interrogation: Science and Art: Foundations for the Future (PDF). Intelligence Science Board: Phase 1 Report. National Defense Intelligence College. p. xix-xx. ...although there is no valid scientific research to back the conclusion, most professionals believe that pain, coercion, and threats are counterproductive to the elicitation of good information. The authors cite a number of psychological and behavioral studies to buttress the argument, but are forced to return to the statement: 'more research is necessary.'

[4] Elliott, Carl (11 November 2015). "The neuroscience of interrogation: Why torture doesn't work". New Scientist. Retrieved 7 March 2023. Controlled studies on the effectiveness of torture would be morally abhorrent. But there is a lot of information on the psychological and physiological effects of severe pain, fear, extreme cold, sleep deprivation, confinement and near-drowning. [...] As O'Mara emphasises, torture does not produce reliable information largely because of the severity with which it impairs the ability to think. Extreme pain, cold, sleep deprivation and fear of torture itself all damage memory, mood and cognition. Torture does not persuade people to make a reasoned decision to cooperate, but produces panic, dissociation, unconsciousness and long-term neurological damage. It also produces an intense desire to keep talking to prevent further torture.

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