Torture

Torture is the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering on someone, done for reasons like punishment, forcing a confession, getting information, or scaring others. Some definitions say only state actors can commit torture, while others include non-state groups. Most victims are poor and marginalized people accused of crimes, though torture of political prisoners or in armed conflict gets more attention. Whether judicial corporal punishment and capital punishment count as torture is debated internationally. Torturers use many methods, often together, with beatings being the most common physical form. Since the twentieth century, many have preferred non-scarring or psychological methods to keep deniability.

Torturers usually act out of fear or limited resources, not sadism. Most learn techniques informally and rarely get explicit orders, but organizations enable and encourage their behavior. Once a torture program starts, it often escalates beyond what was intended and can make involved agencies less effective. Torture aims to break a victim’s will, destroy their agency and personality, and is considered one of the most damaging experiences a person can endure. Victims often suffer physical damage—chronic pain is especially common—and mental effects. While survivors have some of the highest rates of PTSD, many are psychologically resilient.

Torture has existed since ancient times. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many Western countries stopped its official use in judicial systems, though it continued elsewhere. Public opinion generally opposes torture. It is banned under international law for all states in all circumstances and is explicitly forbidden by several treaties. Opposition to torture helped start the human rights movement after World War II, and it remains a key human rights issue. Prevention efforts have had mixed success, but institutional reforms and ending incommunicado detention have helped. Despite a decline, torture is still practiced in or by most countries.

Definitions usually describe torture as deliberately inflicting severe pain or suffering on a helpless person under a perpetrator’s control. Accepted components include that it must be deliberate and for a purpose, excluding negligence or justified actions. The UN Convention against Torture requires a public official or someone acting officially, but some legal systems add non-state armed groups and organized crime. Broader definitions include any perpetrator. Courts have moved away from a state-only view, holding states responsible for failing to prevent or punish torture by third parties. Torture often involves a powerless victim under control, which helps distinguish it from legitimate force, though this is controversial because victims might not always be entirely powerless, especially outside detention. The severity threshold for classifying something as torture is the most debated aspect; interpretations have broadened over time. Subjective elements allow legal evolution to expand the ban, but can also justify abusive practices—for example, the U.S. government argued waterboarding was not torture. Depending on the definition, torture may be separated from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment by severity or purpose. This definition can exclude and legitimize other forms of pain, like institutional or structural violence. Legal scholar Ergün Cakal argues that violent practices become recognized as torture only after they no longer serve the state’s purpose.

Historically, torture was legally and morally accepted in most ancient, medieval, and early modern societies. It was used in judicial processes, and painful punishments were seen as different from torture. Torture was considered a reliable way to find truth, a suitable punishment, and a deterrent. When legally regulated, there were limits on methods. Citizens could usually be tortured only for serious crimes like treason and only when some evidence existed. Non-citizens, like foreigners and slaves, were commonly tortured. Archaeological evidence shows torture in Early Neolithic Europe about 7,000 years ago. It appears in historical sources on Assyria and Achaemenid Persia. Torture was rare in early medieval Europe but became more common between 1200 and 1400. It remained labor-intensive and reserved for severe crimes; most victims were men accused of murder, treason, or theft. The Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran used torture when circumstantial evidence linked someone to a crime.