The Torture Of Suspected Terrorists Criminology Essay

The Torture Of Suspected Terrorists Criminology Essay Torture inflicts severe pain to force someone to do or say something, and has been used against prisoners-of-war, suspected insurgents and political prisoners for hundreds of years. In the 1970s and 1980s, governments began to identify a specific form of violence called terrorism and to identify prisoners as terrorists (1). This is when the history of torture and terrorism begins. While many countries practice torture against political prisoners, only some name their dissidents terrorists or face potential threats from terrorism. Governments have used systematic torture in conflicts with rebel, insurgent or resistance groups in long running conflicts since the 1980s (2). It is questionable whether these should always be called terrorism conflicts. Governments are likely to call their non-state violent opponents terrorists, but only sometimes are they clearly engaged in terrorist activity. Torture has always played some role in federal, state, or local policy. Prior to the innovation of the penitentiary system in the early 19th century, forms of physical punishment that we now consider torture were extremely common (1). Torture by United States forces in wartime is not unheard of. And the persistent use of torture against low-income communities of color has also been well-documented. The issue of torture in relation to terrorism was raised publicly in the United States in 2004, when news of a 2002 Memorandum issued by the Justice Department for the CIA suggested that torturing Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees captured in Afghanistan might be justified to prevent further attacks on the United States, where in reality it does not prevent anything (2). If we all took a closer look to what the terrorist torture does to humans we would see that it doesnt justify any means to be able to gather information. At times the United States goes too far when it comes to the techniques they use to gather information from a suspected terrorist. When it comes to the 9/11 attack, there is still no means for the harsh ways of torture for the prisoners held liable. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration began using torture-lite techniques against suspected terrorist detainees (3). These techniques have included water boarding, sleep deprivation, long-term use of loud noises, forced nudity, and forced standing. If any civilized person stood a day on these torture tactics, it would be I insane. Its like basically saying that you have no respect for human life, which basically means nothing to anyone, and that shouldnt be the case. Torture is by far the worst thing that any state or nation should do. There are obviously different ways to gather and receive information from the suspected terrorist groups, torture is never the answer and it shouldnt justify anything. The Al Qaeda attacks of September 11, the ensuing declaration of a global war on terror, and the rapid development of more stringent counter-t errorism efforts have pitched the issue of human rights and terrorism into high relief (2). This is true not only in the United States, but in a number of countries who have signed on as partners in a global coalition to crack down on terrorist activity. Indeed, following 9/11 a number of countries that routinely violate the human rights of political prisoners or dissidents found tacit American sanction to expand their repressive practices (3). At Abu Ghraib, U.S. military personnel and CIA interrogators were revealed to have gone several steps further, implementing forms of torture that involved lasting physical damage, sexual humiliation, and sometimes death (2). In the years immediately preceding the 9/11 attacks, there was no question that torture as an interrogation practice is out-of-bounds for American military personnel. In 1994, the United States passed a law prohibiting the use of torture by American military under any circumstances (2). Furthermore, the United States was bound, as a signatory, to comply with the 1949 Geneva Convention, which prohibits torturing prisoners-of-war (3). The Abu Ghraib province west of Baghdad in Iraq became a household name globally when news of American troops torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib (3). Scandal erupted when photographs taken by American military police, depicting their abuse and torture of Iraqi detainees, became public in April, 2004 (3). The photographs revealed to rture based largely on the sexual humiliation of the detainees. Seven soldiers engaged in the prisoner abuse were subsequently convicted in court martials on dereliction of duty and assault and battery charges. The Abu Ghraib prison scandal caused lasting harm to the American reputation and increased skepticism about American motives in its declared war on terror. What the people fail to see is that the United States government thinks that its okay to beat and torture these people until their last breath to say what they want to say. I remember we watched a movie in one of my classes where it dealt with the torture of the American Government to receive information regarding any more of terrorist attacks. This poor man said lies because of the way the government was torturing, so basically he just told them what they wanted to here. That just comes to show people that what the United States government is doing is beyond wrong and cruel. At times these issues come with looking at the fact that obviously these people are treated differently because of their race. At times the United States feels as if they have so much control over the people that they fail to see that there always are some kind of consequences when it comes to torturing people and at times torturing the wrong people. Human rights are relevant to terrorism as concerns both its victims and its perpetrators. The concept of human rights was first expressed in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which established recognition of the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all members of the human family (2). The innocent victims of terrorism suffer an attack on their most basic right to live in peace and security. Torturing another human being is inexcusable, no matter the circumstance. Some may justify that the knowledge a terrorist might have could save millions of lives, and that in this case, the ends justify the means. To an extent I agree that the loss of an individuals well-being to save so many others can sometimes be justified. However, torture cannot be justified in this way because it is incapable of achieving its end; torture is not only inhumane, it is also very ineffective. When an individual is tortured for information, that person will say anything you want them to. While being tortured, an individuals number one priority is to make the pain stop by doing whatever the torturer asks. However, if you are torturing someone, they probably dont have much respect for you, and will have no qualms about lying their ass off. If a torturer is trying to get information about a certain subject, he obviously lacks the information he needs, and has no way of being able to tell whether or not the person being tortured is being truthful. Therefore any information from a person being tortured is unreliable and unusable. Torture also promotes terrorism. Terrorist actions against Americans stem from hatred for and a lack of respect towards our country. Whenever we torture a terrorist, members of his organization can use him as a poster child: Look at what the Americans are doing to our people. Look how inhumane they are. Look at how badly they treat us. Though we may hate terrorists for what they have done to our soldiers, torturing them is not a solution. It only continues the cycle. The best thing to do to captured terrorists is to treat them humanely, and give them, and other like-minded individuals, less reason to hate our country.

Chinese Footbinding :: essays research papers fc

The ancient Chinese custom of footbinding caused severe life-long suffering for the Chinese women involved. When researching the subject of footbinding, one of the difficult things is finding factual knowledge written before the 20th century. Most of the historical data has been gathered from writings, drawings and photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries. Additionally, the research indicates that the historical documentation was mainly from missionary accounts and literature from various anti-footbinding societies. These groups had a bias because of their opposing viewpoints. The first documented reference to footbinding was from the Southern Tang Dynasty in Nanjing (Vento 1). Although the history of footbinding is very vague it lasted for at least one thousand years.Early text referred to the Han Dynasty as people who preferred that the women have small feet (Vento, 1). Vento also acknowledged the first documented reference to actual binding of the feet was from the Tang Dynasty in Nanjing (1). Before the Sung Dynasty Binding was only slightly constricting, allowing for free movement, they were also thought to have used footbinding to suppress women. The Yuan Dynasty introduced binding into the central and southern parts of China. It may have been emphasized to draw a clear cultural distinction between the Chinese and their large footed conquerors, the Mongols. Footbinding was most popular during the Ming Dynasty, if parents cared for their sons they would not go easy on their studies and if they cared for their daughters they would not go easy on their footbinding (Levy, 47-49). One recent study estimated that there are still one million women in China with bound feet. The last Chinese women, still living with bound feet in Hawaii, was in 1994 (Kam, D-6).There are many legends of how footbinding began, one such legend is Lady Yao, a dancer and concubine for Prince Li Yu, danced with such grace that the prince required her to bind her feet to resemble new moons all the time. Another, is that it began out of the sympathy for Empress Taki who had club feet (Aero, 112-113). Although it has not been proven how footbinding started, one of the biggest reasons the practice continued for over 1000 years was it's sexual appeal (Kam, D-1).Humans have shown they will do just about anything- good, evil, or in-between for sex. Footbinding is a very bold issue that many Chinese do not like to talk about.

To What Extent Does Democracy in the Uk Suffer?

Politics Essay To what extent does democracy in the UK suffer from a participation crisis? (25 marks) There are a lot of ways in which citizens can participate in politics in the UK without necessarily having to vote for example: joining a political party, boycotting, and even signing petitions and fund raising. However, there is an argument that there has been a participation crisis over the past years in the UK. A participation crisis is when less and less citizens take part in political activities; this can be shown in the decrease of voter turnout and the level of participation.On the other hand, there is an argument that there is in fact not a participation crisis because the turnout of voting is increasing and specific forms of participation are also on the rise. In this essay, I will be arguing whether or not the UK is suffering from a participation crisis and if we are suffering to what extent. The main concern about democracy in the UK comes from evidence of rising political apathy. Some people have seen this as nothing more than a ‘participation crisis’.Can democracy be classed as healthy when more and more voters every year seem to be unconcerned or reluctant to engage in political life? Deteriorating rates of voter turnout and falling levels of party membership despite there being opportunities for participation show evidence. There are three main reasons to show why there is a participation crisis in the UK. The first reason is the public. Due to people’s interest in materialism, individualism and lack of community, citizens fail to pull together and look out for each other, which decreases the interest and connection they have in politics.Decreasing rates in party membership and electoral turnouts is part of a process that’s seen less interest in political affairs as citizens seem to care more about themselves and family rather than their neighbours and society as a whole. The voting turnout over the past years has been inconsistent. During 1945 to 1992, the average turnout rate in the UK general elections was above 75 per cent. However in the 2001 general election, the turnout rate was 59 per cent, the lowest the turnout rate has ever been since 1918. This shows the interest citizens had in political affairs decreased drastically.The turnout rate did increase however, by the 2010 UK general election the turnout rate was at 65 per cent due to the first ever UK TV debate with the three party leaders: David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg even though it was still below the average turnout rate during 1945 to 1992. Similarly, party membership in the UK has also decreased over the years. For example the number of people that were registered to Labour party has fallen from over one million members in the mid 1950’s to around 166,000 members in 2009. Conservatives party membership has also fallen.The number of people that were registered to Conservative party has fallen from approx. 2. 8 mill ion members in the 1950’s to around 250,000 members in 2009. By 2007, less than 1 per cent of people across the UK belonged to political parties, from 7 per cent 50 years ago. This shows a decline in party membership which is caused by a decline in the voters’ loyalty towards political parties. Another reason why there is a participation crisis in the UK is the media. The media has a big impact and influence on citizens and the way they vote and support political parties.The media focuses on the political scandals, allegations, incompetence and policy failure of the parties which means that the good things about the leading politicians are forgotten about and the negative tend to be more popular. For example, the Sun newspaper has seemed to influence citizens about which party should be in power as each party the Sun has supported over the years has won in the general elections. This shows that the media has had an impact on citizens and their preferred party which cou ld be another reason why there is a participation crisis.The final explanation why there is a participation crisis in the UK is the politicians themselves. Politicians have been known to lack vision, and only really care about being elected in modern politicians and political parties as it is seen as just another professional career. Politicians have also been known to be over -concerned with the media and how they are portrayed rather than being concerned on how things are at the moment and what they can do to make things better.This creates an impression to citizens that politicians are less trustworthy and are all about presentation which causes turnout rates and party membership to decline. The growing idea for politicians to target key voters and citizens they feel might change parties is also a contribution to declining voter turnout rates as other citizens may feel like they aren’t as important or cared about and so decide to not vote or vote for a different party beca use the political parties are ignoring the voters in the majority of seats.The decline in participation rates may also be because of politicians and political parties being too similar to each other, which doesn’t give citizens much choice if both parties are appealing to the same targets and have the same policies. In previous years there were clear divides in the different parties and policies, which made it easier for citizens to choose which party they wanted in power. However for example, the Labour and Conservative parties have distanced themselves away from their traditional policies and targets and are now both focusing on Middle English citizens.In my opinion, there is much evidence for a participation crisis, although single issue politics is growing and pressure groups add to the democratic process as they give a voice to those who are ignored by the majority system. Party memberships have declined however pressure group memberships are growing. Voter turnout is de clining, fewer people feel naturally inclined to a particular party and even less take an active interest in politics due to rising income levels blurring class lines. Because pressure group membership, e petitions and direct action have increased I think this contradicts the idea of a participation crisis.To conclude, the British people have always been reluctant to get involved in democracy. Although forms of participation are constantly evolving; with the small minority who take a strong interest in politics turning more to action groups at the cost of parties, nothing has occurred since 1918 to change the fact that the majority give more priority to work, home, recreation and their private lives instead of public concerns. Many changes can be made to improve democracy however it may not work because Britons do not have an active involvement in politics.There are three main factors that could explain declining turnouts at election time, the electorate- society has become more mat erialistic, the media- they have caused enormous problems for the public to trust and put their faith in politics, and lastly politicians- they have done nothing to restore faith back into politics. The cause of participation crisis lies within the physical act of voting being out of touch with the public. Many of us are tied with jobs social life family life to find time to vote. Therefore voting becomes a burden.

The Child Movement And America s Juvenile Justice System

Both Platt and Ward do an excellent examination of critically going through what was happening in the â€Å"Child Savings Movement† and America’s juvenile justice system. Platt and Ward gave me perspectives of beliefs, biases, practices, and institutions that existed during the inception of the juvenile justice system. I will be discussing one of the practices which is child labor and also I will be discussing about the orphan trains. Does punishment work? I will then be discussing reflectively about what I would have done to address this problem. Platt’s view on the motivation of the child saving movement was interesting. He believed there was a middle class desire to control the dangerous and perishing classes. A push from middle-class professionals working in the area to improve their status. The desire of middle class women to widen their sphere of influence. 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