Ethics Of Torture Essay

In extreme cases, is it morally justified to use extreme measures to protect a larger group of people? For torture to be done properly, there must be systems in place, such as torture warrants, to insure that the torture is being done with the knowledge of the government. Thesis: In accordance with Dershowitz, torture should be acceptable when it is absolutely needed, however those inflicting the torture needs to be held accountable for their actions by the government. According to Dershowitz, the ticking time bomb terrorist should be tortured based on the overwhelming effects that can be prevented when dealing with a terrorist withholding crucial information that can save the lives of civilians. Though torture causes pain to one person,
it can result in saving the lives of possibly thousands of people, an example of this being the 9/11 attacks involving Moussaoui. Moussaoui was brought in for questioning due to unusual activity in his flight schooling, but he was not searched completely and due to this it was not discovered that he was involved in the terrorist attack being orchestrated until after. Though we are unable to know fully if the information given would have been correct, with the use of torture, we could have able to obtain information that could have prevented, or in the least, minimize the effects of the bomb. By using torture in this instance, it would have been possible to save thousands of civilian lives, without the use of lethal torture devices.
Dershowitz argues for the use of torture from a point of view of act utilitarianism, which is the action that leads to the most happiness is morally right.
On the other hand, he describes Bentham’s theories on torture using rule utilitarianism, which uses a certain set or rules to determine if an action is morally right. Both theories have the common idea that the good of the many outweighs that of the few. Bentham’s theory however is in favor of not using torture under any circumstance due to the fact that no government can be entrusted with differentiating when it is, and is not necessary to use torture. An example of this being the Stanford Prison Experiment performed by Philip Zimbardo, where due to the lack of accountability on the prison guards, the guards treated the prisoner inhumanly without instruction to do so. On the contrary however, if there is accountability and visibility placed on the person in charge of the torturing, there is a less likely hood of the abuse of power by the government. By only resorting to torture in dire situation, such as the ticking bomb, and not allowing torture to be a part of the daily legal system we are also able to prevent the misuse of torture. An example of using all four of these resolution is the use of torture warrant, as suggested by Dershowitz. The government, using these four resolution, are able to practice torture without threat to the values of security and human
rights.
When done properly, torture is able to prevent terrorist action, an example being a ticking bomb terrorist, who without giving the information obtained through torture, would kill perhaps thousands. With the help of government intervention, we are able to practice torture without violation of civil liberties and human rights. In conclusion, when done through the proper protocol with visibility and accountability, torture can be a justifiable act to obtain information to save thousands of innocent lives.