Torture Persuasive Essay

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Little do people know that the use of torture on victims is still widely practiced throughout the world today. The reason being is that some may use the excuse that they choose to continue the practice of torture in attempt to obtain the ‘truth’ from the detainees. By definition torture is the act or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain (Irct.org). Proofs of interrogation techniques used on victims may not only leave physical marks but can sink into one’s mental health leaving a long-term or life-long impact. While harassing someone may help quicken the speed of getting an answer or a piece of information out of someone, are the techniques that are being used on the victims doing us any justice? While the United States is so quick to call out the distasteful flaws of the rest of the world, is it doing us any better that we could become so passive aggressive and start giving in to the acts of torture when it comes to our own benefits? No country publicly supports the idea or act of torture, yet the world still has people out there whom argue that torture is rational for intelligence-gathering purposes. These people fail to realize the permanent scars that torture leaves and how it affects the survivor’s entire life through every relationship they face. Techniques such as sexual assault/ humiliation, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, mock executions, forced medications, or even the use of dogs to scare the detainees are all cases found that victims have had to face in the act of victimizers trying to receive the ‘truth’ from them. Trying to get information out of detainees is one thing, but the use of various torture methods and the long-term impacts of it, leads to a completely different concern that should be brought to attention. Recent studies indicate that seventy-nine percent of the G-20 countries continue to practice systematic torture despite a universal ban (Carinci, 2010). Torture is universally condemned, society believes in human rights, yet we still have billions of victims out there under the shadows, where they live with the reality of trying to cope with various situations that they’ve been forced to go through due to torture. The pain of torture can last forever, and will impact the normal function of the human mind leading to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and CTD (Cumulative Trauma Disorder). The feeling that one is not in control of themselves or the situation that they are in, has been confirmed to be one of the prime stressors of torture, a cause for its severely traumatizing effects. Harvard psychiatrist Stuart Grassian, exposed that when prisoners are put into a solitary confinement studies show that they “tend to become irritable, hyper vigilant, jumpy, fearful, and chronically tense” (humanrights.ucdavis.edu). On the other hand, Metin Basaoglu discovered that even if a harshly long-term mistreatment on an individual may not impact them or destroys them all at once, in turn; it can lead to mental disorders when grouped together. The experience of being enclosed in, humiliated or harshly threatened leaves one feeling powerless in front of the victimizers. Post- torture symptoms range from the prevalent chronic pain, which is often connected to several body systems. Musculoskeletal damage is an example of the result from the effects of torture which may vary from injuries to disorders that affect the human body’s movement or musculoskeletal system such as “the muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, or blood vessels” (ergo-plus.com). Neurophysiologic damage is another result that …show more content…
Traumatic stress can be associated with lasting changes in several areas in the brain. This is correlated to “increased deregulation of Cortisol systems and norepinephrine responses to subsequent stressors” (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2006) in which the brain undergoes stress-induced changes in structure and function. Stress results in severe and chronic changes in neurochemical systems and specific brain areas that results in long-term transformations in the brain’s “circuits involved in the stress response” (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2006). Memories from traumatic situations can arise unconsciously, and at the worst times. Nightmares and hallucinations can both recreate the trauma in unwanted detail for the victim. These are just a select few samples of what tortured survivors have to go through from the mental disturbance of a horrific

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