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Corporal Punishment

Corporal punishment

Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended as correction or punishment. Historically speaking most punishments, whether in judicial, domestic or educational settings were corporal in basis. The practice is generally held to differ from torture in that it is applied for disciplinary reasons and is therefore intended to be limited, rather than intended to totally destroy the will of the victim. The physical and psychological effects of certain severe or prolonged forms of corporal punishment are, however, more or less indistinguishable from those of torture. In the modern world, the corporal punishment has been largely rejected in favour of other disciplinary methods. Modern judiciaries often favour fines or incarceration, whilst modern school discipline avoids physical coercion. Although corporal punishment is still used in many domestic settings it has been banned in seventeen countries.

Corporal punishment in history

Whilst the early history of corporal punishment is unclear, the practice was certainly present in classical civilisations, being used in Greece, Rome, Egypt and Israel, used for both judicial and educational discipline. Practices varied greatly, though scourging and beating with sticks were both common. Some states gained a reputation for using such punishments cruelly; Sparta, in particular, used frequent and heavy punishment as part of a disciplinary regime designed to build willpower and bodily strength. Although the Spartan example was unusual, corporal punishment was possibly the most common type of minor punishment. These approaches to corporal punishment were continued into Medieval Europe. This was encouraged by attitudes of the medieval church towards the human body, with flagellation being a common means of encouraging self-discipline. In particular this had an influence on corporal punishment in schools as educational establishments were closely attached to the church during this period. Nevertheless, corporal punishment was not used uncritically; as early as the eleventh century St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury was speaking out against what was seen as the cruel treatment of children. From the sixteenth century onwards, new trends were seen in corporal punishment. Judicial punishments were increasingly made into public spectacles, with the heavy public beatings of criminals intended as a deterrent to others. Meanwhile, early writers on education, such as Roger Ascham, frequently complained of the arbitrary manner in which children were punished. Probably the most influential writer on the subject was the English philosopher John Locke, whose Some Thoughts Concerning Education explicitly criticised the manner in which corporal punishment was central to education. Locke's work was highly influential and when Poland banned corporal punishment from its schools in 1783, Some Thoughts Concerning Education was said to have influenced the legislators. During the eighteenth century the frequent use of corporal punishment was heavily criticised, both by philosophers and legal reformers. Merely inflicting pain on miscreants was seen as inefficient, influencing the subject merely for a short period of time and effecting no permanent change in their behaviour. Critics believed that the purpose of punishment should be reformation, not retribution. This is perhaps best expressed in Jeremy Bentham's idea of a panoptic prison, in which prisoners were controlled and surveyed at all times. A perceived advantage of such systems was that they reduced the need of measures such as corporal punishment. A consequence of this mode of thinking was a diminution of corporal punishment throughout the nineteenth century in Europe and North America. Corporal punishment proved most persistent as a punishment for violation of prison rules, as a military field punishment, and in schools. Examples of corporal punishment from the Enlightenment onwards have tended to emphasise the administration of a set amount of pain by measurable procedures.

Modern usage

In the modern world corporal punishment remains a common way of disciplining children. Although this has been outlawed in some European countries, most legal systems defend the rights of the parent to discipline their child however they see fit, distinguishing between reasonable punishment and abuse. In terms of punishment in judicial and educational settings, approaches vary throughout the world. The practice has, for instance, been almost completely abandoned in Europe and North America, whilst other societies retain widespread use of judicial corporal punishment, including Malaysia and Singapore. In Singapore, male violent offenders and rapists are typically sentenced to caning in addition to a prison term. The Singaporean practice of caning became much discussed in the U.S. in 1994 when American teenager Michael P. Fay was sentenced to such punishment for an offence of car vandalism. Corporal punishment is also dictated as a punishment in traditional Islamic Sharia law, and applied in countries like Saudi Arabia.

Corporal punishment of children

Opinions on corporal punishment of children are varied. Whilst the practice is accepted and embraced in many countries, it is also illegal in a number of others. There is pressure in some countries, such as the United Kingdom to have any form of corporal punishment of children made illegal and treated as child abuse. Sweden, Finland, Norway, Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Latvia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, Iceland, Romania, Ukraine and Hungary have banned the corporal punishment of children entirely. In some states of the USA, paddling of children is still allowed. Recently in the US the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has proposed a bill banning all forms of corporal punishment of persons under 18. Many educators use a milder form of corporal punishment called "spanking", usually slapping the child's buttocks with the palm of their hand; alternatively, they may administer a single smack on the hand with their own hand. Others punish their children with a switch, belt, or a paddle, although this practice is less common than in years past. Although China and Taiwan have made corporal punishment against children illegal in the school system, it is still widely practiced. In most part of Confucian East Asia (including China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea), it is legal to punish one's own child using physical means. In Singapore and Hong Kong, punishing one's own child with corporal punishment is still either legal, only discouraged, or illegal but without active enforcement of the relevant laws. Culturally, people in the region generally believe a minimal amount of corporal punishment for their own children is appropriate and necessary, and thus such practice is tolerated by the society as a whole. There is resistance, particularly from conservatives, against making the corporal punishment of children by their parents or guardians illegal. In 2004, the United States declined to become a signatory of the United Nations's "Rights of the Child" because of its sanctions on parental discipline, citing the tradition of parental authority in that country and of privacy in family decision-making. Most countries have banned the use of corporal punishment in schools, beginning with Poland in 1783. The practice is still used in schools in some parts of the United States (approximately 1/2 the states but varying by school district within them), though it is banned in others.

Arguments pro and contra

Some argue that corporal punishment is a quick and effective method and less cruel than long-term incarceration; adherents to this viewpoint think that corporal punishment should be re-considered in countries that have banned it as an alternative to imprisonment; some even want corporal punishment to replace fines for such minor offences as graffiti. The purported advantages of this approach include easier reintegration in society ( generally, physical wounds heal quickly, while prison may adversely affect relationships and job prospects), greater deterrence rates, less recidivism, and fewer costs to society. Proponents of corporal punishment also invoke arguments of authority such as those found in a literal reading of the bible or simply 'traditional means to defend traditional values'. Since the late 20th century, with an increased interest in human rights, populations of some developed countries are moving towards considering judicial corporal punishment barbaric, and usually associate such punishment with dictatorships, police states, and fundamentalist regimes. Proponents of the corporal punishment of children, whilst accepting that excessive physical punishment amounts to child abuse, argue that corporal punishment, properly administered, can be the most effective form of discipline for unruly children and adolescents. Polls consistently show that the overwhelming majority of Americans believe that corporal punishment is sometimes necessary. Without recourse to milder forms of physical punishment, parents may use forms of emotional violence that are actually more abusive. Opponents argue that any form of violence is by definition abusive. Some psychology research indicates that corporal punishment causes the destruction of trust bonds between parents and children. Children subjected to corporal punishment may grow resentful, shy, insecure, or violent. Some researchers have shown that corporal punishment actually works against its objective (normally obedience), since children will not voluntarily obey an adult they do not trust. A child who is physically punished may have to be punished more often than a child who is not. However, anti-spanking researcher Elizabeth Gershoff disagreed with this view in a 2002 study, reporting that use of corporal punishment had a positive correlation with compliance in children (while maintaining that the research reinforced the other anti-spanking arguments.)

Corporal punishment, fetishism, and BDSM

Corporal punishment is sometimes fetishized, and is the basis of a number of paraphilias, most notably erotic spanking. Pervertibles are various objects than can be used as punitive implement (mainly in BDSM or the private sphere, open to improvization). The techniques and rituals of corporal punishment are often included in BDSM activities; see impact play.

Ritual and punishment

Corporal punishment in formal settings, such as schools and prisons, is often highly ritualised, sometimes even staged in a highly theatrical manner. To a great extent the spectacle of punishment is intended to act as a deterrent to others and a theatrical approach is one result of this. One consequence of the ritualised nature of much punishment has been the development of a wide variety of equipment used. Formal punishment often begins with the victim stripped of some or all of their clothing and secured to a piece of furniture, such as a trestle, frame, punishment horse or falaka. A variety of implements are then used to inflict blows on the victim. The terms used to describe these are not fixed, varying by country and by context. There are, however, a number of common types which are frequently encountered when reading about corporal punishment. These are:
- The bastinado.
- Rods, varying in size and flexibility. A thin, flexible rod is often called a switch.
- The Birch, a number of strong, flexible branches, bound together in their natural state.
- Bamboo canes of various types, most notably durable species of rottan, known as the rattan.
- The Paddle, a flat wooden or leather pad with a handle is commonly used for corporal punishment in America.
- Straps of various types, occasionally with a number of tails at one end. In Scotland and northern England, this is known as a tawse.
- Whips are common in judicial punishment and prison discipline, with varieties including the famous Russian knout and South African sjambok, in addition to the scourge and martinet.
- The cat o' nine tails was a popular implement used in naval discipline. In some instances the victim of punishment were required to prepare the implement which will be used upon them. For instance, sailors were employed in preparing the cat o' nine tails which would be used upon their own back, whilst children were sent to cut a switch or rod. In contrast, informal punishments, particularly in domestic settings, tend to lack this ritual nature and are often administered with whatever object comes to hand. It is common, for instance, for belts, wooden spoons, slippers or hairbrushes to be used in domestic punishment, whilst rulers and other classroom equipment have been used in schools.

Administration of punishment

In formal punishment medical supervision is often considered necessary to assess whether the target of punishment is in a fit condition to be beaten and to oversee the punishment to prevent serious injury from occuring. The role of the medical officer was particularly important in the nineteenth century, a time in which severe punishment was common, but growing public criticism of the practice encouraged medical regulation. Corporal punishment can be directed at a number of different anatomical targets, the choice depending on a number of factors. The humiliation and pain of a particular punishment have always been primary concerns, but convenience and custom are also factors. There is an additional concern in the modern world about the permanent harm that can result from punishment, though this was rarely a factor before the nineteenth century. The intention of corporal punishment is to discipline an individual with the infliction of a measure of pain, and permanent injury is considered counterproductive.
- Most commonly, corporal punishment is directed at the buttocks, with some languages having a specific word for their chastisement. For example, the French call this fessée, the Spanish nalgada. The English term spanking refers to punishment on the buttocks, though only with the open hand. This part of the body is often chosen because it is painful, but is arguably less likely to cause long-term physical harm.
- The back is commonly targeted in military and judicial punishments, particularly popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. However, damage to both spine and kidneys is possible and such punishment is rarely used in the modern world.
- Although the face and particularly the cheeks may be struck in domestic punishment, formal punishments avoid the head because of the serious injuries that can ensue. In some countries, domestic and school punishments aimed at the head are considered to be assaults.
- The hands are a common target in school discipline, though rarely targeted in other forms of corporal punishment. Since serious injury can be caused by striking the hand, the implements used and the numbers of blows must be strictly controlled.
- In Western Asia corporal punishment was directed against the feet in the falaka. Although this was mostly used on criminals, a version was in use in schools in the region. One common problem with corporal punishment is the difficulty with which an objective measure of pain can be delievered. In the nineteenth century scientists such as Alexander Bain and Francis Galton suggested scientific solutions to this, such as the use of electicity. These were, however, unpopular and perceived as cruel. The difficulty in inflicting a set measure of pain makes it difficult to distinguish reasonable punishment from abuse, and has contributed to calls for the abolition of the practice.

External links

- [http://www.scandinavica.com/culture/society/children.htm Nordics first to ban corporal punishment on children]
- [http://www.corpun.com/ Corporal Punishment Archive] Category:Corporal punishments Category:BDSM ko:?? ja:??

Pain

:Pain is also the name of a musical group; for further information see Pain (band) Pain is an unpleasant sensation which may be associated with actual or potential tissue damage and which may have physical and emotional components. According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), one should distinguish between pain and nociception. The term "pain" is a subjective experience that typically accompanies nociception, but can also arise without any stimulus. It includes the emotional response. Nociception, on the other hand, is a neurophysiological term and denotes specific activity in nerve pathways. It is the transmission mechanism for physiological pain, and does not describe psychological pain. These pathways transmit the nominally "painful" signals, though they are not always perceived as painful. Although pain can be associated with tissue damage or inflammation, this is often not the case. Despite its unpleasantness, pain is a critical component of the body's defense system. It is part of a rapid warning relay instructing the motor neurons of the central nervous system to minimize detected physical harm.

Types of pain

Pain can be classified as acute or chronic.
- Acute pain is defined as short-term pain or pain with an easily identifiable cause. Acute pain is the body's warning of present damage to tissue or disease. It is often fast and sharp followed by aching pain. Acute pain is centralized in one area before becoming somewhat spread out. This type of pain responds well to medications.
- Chronic pain was originally defined as pain that has lasted 6 months or longer. It is now defined as pain that persists longer than the normal course of time associated with a particular type of injury. This constant or intermittent pain has often outlived its purpose, as it does not help the body to prevent injury. It is often more difficult to treat than acute pain. Expert care is generally necessary to treat any pain that has become chronic. An anterior cingulectomy, neurosurgury that disconnects the anterior cingulate gyrus, can be used in extreme cases to treat chronic pain. Post-surgery the patient will still feel the sensation of pain, but not the accompanying emotion. The experience of physiological pain can be grouped according to the source and related nociceptors (pain detecting neurons).
- Cutaneous pain is caused by injury to the skin or superficial tissues. Cutaneous nociceptors terminate just below the skin, and due to the high concentration of nerve endings, produce a well-defined, localised pain of short duration. Examples of injuries that produce cutaneous pain include paper cuts, minor (first degree) burns and lacerations.
- Somatic pain originates from ligaments, tendons, bones, blood vessels, and even nerves themselves. It is detected with somatic nociceptors. The scarcity of pain receptors in these areas produces a dull, poorly-localised pain of longer duration than cutaneous pain; examples include sprains and broken bones.
- Visceral pain originates from body's viscera, or organs. Visceral nociceptors are located within body organs and internal cavities. The even greater scarcity of nociceptors in these areas produces pain that is usually more aching and of a longer duration than somatic pain. Visceral pain is extremely difficult to localise, and several injuries to visceral tissue exhibit "referred" pain, where the sensation is localised to an area completely unrelated to the site of injury. Myocardial ischaemia (the loss of blood flow to a part of the heart muscle tissue) is possibly the best known example of referred pain; the sensation can occur in the upper chest as a restricted feeling, or as an ache in the left shoulder, arm or even hand. Referred pain can be explained by the findings that pain receptors in the viscera also excite spinal cord neurons that are excited by cutaneous tissue. Since the brain normally associates firing of these spinal cord neurons with stimulation of somatic tissues in skin or muscle, pain signals arising from the viscera are interpreted by the brain as originating from the skin. The theory that visceral and somatic pain receptors converge and form synapses on the same spinal cord pain-transmitting neurons is called "Ruch's Hypothesis".
- Phantom limb pain is the sensation of pain from a limb that has been lost or from which a person or no longer receives physical signals. It is an experience almost universally reported by amputees and quadriplegics.
- Neuropathic pain, or "neuralgia", can occur as a result of injury or disease to the nerve tissue itself. This can disrupt the ability of the sensory nerves to transmit correct information to the thalamus, and hence the brain interprets painful stimuli even though there is no obvious or known physiologic cause for the pain.

Physiology

Pain receptors

All pain receptors are free nerve endings. There are mechanical, thermal and chemical pain receptors. They are found in skin and on internal surfaces such as periosteum and joint surfaces. Deep internal surfaces are only weakly supplied with pain receptors and will propagate sensations of chronic, aching pain if tissue damage in these areas is experienced. Pain receptors do not adapt to stimulus. In some conditions, excitation of pain fibres becomes greater as the pain stimulus continues, leading to a condition called hyperalgesia. Nociceptors are the free nerve endings of neurons that have their cell bodies outside the spinal column in the dorsal root ganglion and are named based upon their appearance at their sensory ends. These sensory endings look like the branches of small bushes. Two main types of nociceptor, Aδ and C fibres, mediate fast and slow pain respectively. Thinly myelinated type Aδ fibres, which transmit signals at rates of between 6 to 30 metres per second mediate fast pain. This type of pain is felt within a tenth of a second of application of the pain stimulus. It can be described as sharp, acute, pricking pain and includes mechanical and thermal pain. Slow pain, mediated by slower, unmyelinated ("bare") type C pain fibres that send signals at rates of between 0.5 to 2 metres per second, is an aching, throbbing, burning pain. Chemical pain is an example of slow pain.

Transmission of pain signals in the central nervous system

The perception of pain occurs when the nociceptors are stimulated and transmit signals through sensory neurons in the spinal cord. These neurons release glutamate, a major exicitory neurotransmitter that relays signals from one neuron to another. The signals are sent to the thalamus, in which pain perception occurs. From the thalumus, the signal travels to the somatosensory cortex in the cerebrum, at which point the individual becomes fully aware of the pain. There are 2 pathways for transmission of pain in the CNS. These are the neospinothalamic tract (for fast pain) and the paleospinothalamic tract (for slow pain).
- Fast pain travels via type Aδ fibres to terminate on lamina I (lamina marginalis) of the dorsal horn. Second order neurons of the neospinothalamic tract then take off and give rise to long fibres which cross the midline through the anterior commisure and pass upwards in the contralateral anterolateral columns. These fibres then terminate on the Ventrobasal Complex (VBC) of the thalamus. From here, third order neurons communicate with the somatosensory cortex. Fast pain can be localised easily if Aδ fibres are stimulated together with tactile receptors.
- Slow pain is transmitted via slower type C fibres to laminae II and III of the dorsa horns, together known as the substantia gelatinosa. Second order neurons take off and terminate in lamina V, also in the dorsal horn. Third order neurons then join fibres from the fast pathway, crossing to the opposite side via the anterior commisure, and travelling upwards through the anterolateral pathway. These neurons terminate widely in the brain stem, with one tenth of fibres stopping in the thalamus, and the rest stopping in the medulla, pons and mesencephalon. Slow pain is poorly localized.

Analgesia

The gate control theory of pain, proposed by Patrick Wall and Ron Melzack, postulates that pain is "gated" by non-painful stimuli such as vibration. Thus, rubbing a bumped knee seems to relieve pain by preventing its transmission to the brain. Pain is also "gated" by signals that descend from the brain to the spinal cord to suppress (and in other cases enhance) incoming pain information. The analgesia system is mediated by 3 major components : the periaquaductal grey matter (in the midbrain), the nucleus raphe magnus (in the medulla), and the pain inhibitory neurons within the dorsal horns of the spinal cord, which act to inhibit pain-transmitting neurons also located in the spinal dorsal horn. The body has several different types of opioid receptors that are activated in response to the binding of the body's endogenous endorphins. These receptors, which exist in a variety of areas in the body, inhibit firing of neurons that would otherwise be stimulated to do so by nociceptors.

Survival benefit

Despite its unpleasantness, pain is an important part of the existence of humans and other animals; in fact, it is vital to survival. Pain encourages an organism to disengage from the noxious stimulus associated wtih the pain. Preliminary pain can serve to indicate that an injury is imminent, such as the ache from a soon-to-be-broken bone. Pain may also promote the healing process, since most organisms will protect an injured region in order to avoid further pain. People born with congenital insensitivity to pain usually have short life spans, and suffer numerous ailments such as broken bones, bed sores, and chronic infection. The study of pain has in recent years diverged into many different fields from pharmacology to psychology and neurobiology. It was even proposed that fruit flies may be used as an animal model for pharmacological pain research [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15763072&query_hl=21]. Pain is also of interest in the search for the neural correlates of consciousness, as pain has many subjective psychological aspects besides the physiological nociception. Interestingly, the brain itself is devoid of nociceptive tissue, and hence cannot experience pain. Thus, a headache is not due to stimulation of pain fibers in the brain itself. Rather, the membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord, called the dura mater, is innervated with pain receptors, and stimulation of these dural nociceptors (pain receptors) is thought to be involved to some extent in producing headache pain. Some evolutionary biologists have speculated that this lack of nociceptive tissue in the brain might be due to the fact that any injury of sufficient magnitude to cause pain in the brain has a sufficiently high probability of being fatal that development of nociceptive tissue therein would have little to no survival benefit. Since pain is defined as a signal of present or impending tissue damage effected by a harmful stimulus, the ability to experience pain or irritation is observable in most multicellular organisms. Even some plants have the ability to retract from a noxious stimulus. Whether this sensation of pain is equivalent to the human experience is debatable. Chronic pain, in which the pain becomes pathological rather that beneficial, is an exception to the idea that pain is helpful to survival.

Children and pain

Children have been proven to be markedly more sensitive to pain, but this fact is commonly dismissed as a fear reaction or a lack of coping abilities. Research has been carried out on how children can cope with pain due to increased sensitivity and it has been established that strategies that remove pain can help prevent long-term increases in sensitivity as the nervous system is still developing.

Pain and alternative medicine

A recent [http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2004/052704.htm survey] by NCCAM found pain was the most common reason that people use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Among American adults who used CAM in 2002, 16.8% used CAM to treat back pain; 6.6% for neck pain; 4.9% for arthritis; 4.9% for joint pain; 3.1% for headache; and 2.4% used CAM to treat recurring pain. (Some survey respondents may have used CAM to treat more than one of these pain conditions.) One such alternative, traditional Chinese medicine, views pain as a qi "blockage" equivalent to electrical resistance, or as "stagnation of blood" – theorized as dehydration inhibiting metabolism. Traditional Chinese treatments such as acupuncture are more effective for nontraumatic pain than traumatic pain.

External links

- [http://www.iasp-pain.org/ International Association for the Study of Pain] - scientific multidisciplinany body
- [http://www.pain.remedica.com International Journal of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care]
- [http://www.lower-back-pain-answers.com Lower Back Pain Answers]
- [http://www.thenakedscientists.com/html/columnists/barrygibbcolumn3.htm Sea Snails (Conus) harbour powerful new painkillers] - the ACV1 snail polypeptide appears to be a potential analgesic
- [http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993673 Fish capable of experiencing pain] (rainbow trout may show pain responses, contrary to popular belief) - New Scientist 2003
- [http://www.thenakedscientists.com/html/columnists/petermcnaughtoncolumn1.htm Developments in the neuroscience of pain]
- [http://www.childsdoc.org/spring2002/chronicpain.asp Children and pain treatment] Category:Nociception simple:Pain

Correction

Correction, via the identical French from the Latin corrigěre 'to make straight (again)', is an action to rectify, to make right a wrong. It may have the following meanings:
- To set straight an error, clarify a misunderstanding, undo resulting damage.
- To rectify an illogical state, e.g. a market anomaly as in correction (stock market).
- As a euphemism for punishment, of various kinds, mainly physical; in institutional terminology specifically used for imprisonment, e.g. correctional facility (prison) or corrections.
- the various duties of a corrector, a political/administrative office in classical Antiquity and stil an ecclesistical one in the Catholic Church.

Punishment

Punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant on a wrongdoer as a response to something unwanted that the wrongdoer has done. In psychological terms this is known as "positive punishment". "Negative punishment", on the other hand, is when something is removed from or denied to the punishee. A prisoner, for example, is both positively and negatively punished. He has an unpleasant thing imposed on him and also his freedom is removed. If the behavior does not decrease then it is not considered "punishment" in psychology terms.

Scope of application

Most often, criminals are punished judicially, by fines, corporal punishment or custodial sentences such as prison.
- Children, pupils and other trainees are also punished by their educators or instructors (mainly parents, guardians, or teachers, tutors and coaches). The same used to apply to wives and unmarried daughters as they were not legally emancipated from 'paternal' (or succeeding marital) discipline.
- Slaves, domestic and other servants used to be punishable by their masters; in fact, even modern employees can still be subject to a contractual form of fine or demotion.
- Most hierarchical organizations, such as military and police forces, or even churches, still apply quite rigid internal discipline, even with a judicial system of their own (court martial, canonical courts).
- Punishment may also be applied on moral, especially religious, grounds, as in penance (which is voluntary) or imposed in a theocracy with a religious police (as in a strict Islamic state like Iran or under the Taliban) or (though not a true theocracy) by Inquisition.
- In a wider sense, often termed penalty, punishments can be incurred for infringing the rules of a game, as in sports, hazing (e.g. in paddle games) etcetera. These include:
- Being sent off or sent to the "sin bin" - time in sin-bin varies from game to game (45 seconds in water polo, 2-10 minutes in ice hockey, 10 minutes in rugby, etc.)
- The other team gets a shot at the goal.

History and rationale

Michel Foucault describes in detail the evolution of punishment from hanging, drawing and quartering of medieval times to the modern systems of fines and prisons. He sees a trend in criminal punishment from vengeance by the King to a more practical, utilitarian concern for deterrence and rehabilitation. A particularly harsh punishment is sometimes said to be draconian, after Draco, the lawgiver of the classical polis of Athens. But as the adjective Spartan still testifies, its wholly militarized rival Sparta was the harshest a state of law can be on its own citizens, e.g. crypteia. In operant conditioning, punishment is the presentation of a stimulus contingent on a response which results in a decrease in response strength (as evidenced by a decrease in the frequency of response). The effectiveness of punishment in suppressing the response depends on many factors, including the intensity of the stimulus and the consistency with which the stimulus is presented when the response occurs. In parenting, additional factors that increase the effectiveness of punishment include a verbal explanation of the reason for the punishment and a good relationship between the parent and the child. Punishment can be divided into Positive punishment (the application of an aversive stimulus, such as pain) and Negative punishment (the removal or denial of a desired object or condition).

Types of punishments

This is just a typology with some well-known examples. For a more exhaustive traetment follow the links, and for a more extensive list, use the :category:punishments.

Judicial and similar, i.e. for crimes

- Socio-economical punishments: :
- fines or loss of income :
- confiscation :
- demotion, suspension or expulsion (especially in a strict hierarchy, such as military or clergy) :
- restriction or loss of civic and other rights, in the extreme even civil death
- physical punishments (see that article) : :
- corporal punishment s.s. Though the words physical and corporal simply derive from the Latin viz. Greek words for body, CP is often used more specificly to refer only to various forms of painful beating on body parts, usually taking the form of whipping or caning with various implements, and markings such as branding or mutilations such as amputation and castration. Legality of these varies from country to country. However it can be defined more widely: :
- capital punishment is the most extreme form of punishment as it ends all bodily functions for good (used by a substantial number of countries, ironically including some that declare mere beating inhumane - see use of death penalty worldwide) :
- various uncomfortable positions, such as in too confined spaces or being tied down long in an unnatural position that puts muscles under increasingly painful stress, e.g. [http://www.geocities.com/pen_kop/pow.htm| lying with the English] imposed on Boer boys emprisoned on Bermuda 1899-1902 in a cruel experiment of Anglicizing 'reeducation' : "they were made to lie down on their backs on the ground with one army blanket beneath and one on top, their outstretched legs tied by the feet to pegs hammered into the ground, while their arms were stretched out above their heads, with their hands manacled and also tied to a peg in the ground. In this excruciating position they had to spend the night before receiving the following morning the prescribed number of whip lashes across the bare back [i.e. buttocks] while naked and held over a barrel. One Tommy held his ankles, another would clasped his hands together behind the boy's head and pushed it downwards" for such 'rebellious' misdeeds as speaking and singing their native Afrikaans (condensed translation from Penkoppe van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog [Penkops of the Second War for Independence] 1899 - 1902 by Pets Marais) :
- custodial sentences include imprisonment and other forms of forced detention (e.g. involuntary institutional psychiatry) and hard labor are in fact also physical punishments, even if no actual beatings are in force internally :
- forms of deprivation of sleep, food etcetera, though these are often unofficial or accessory :
- excessive physical efforts such as prolonged calisthetics, holding up a heavy object :
- banishment, restraining order :
- clinical castration for sexual assault is being tried in a few countries but may lead to charges of eugenics, since the individual is rendered infertile as a result
- public humiliation often combines social elements with corporal punishment, and indeed often punishments from two or more categories are combined (especially when these are meant reinforce each-other's effect) as in the logic of penal harm

For children

Common punishments imposed by educators (parents, guardians or teachers etcetera; traditions differ greatly in time, place and cultural sphere) are :
- corporal punishment as above - mainly spanking in various mode) (banned in some countries, in others even prescribed by law) and uncomfortable and/or humilitating positions, e.g. kneeling, holding a heavy object up; as this is disapproved of by many modern educators, and banned by certain legislators, there is an increase of alternative punishments, physical or other, such as:
- time-outs such as corner-time or even locking up in a dark place
- writing lines or an imposed essay (often on a 'fitting' subject)
- mild forms of custodial sentences
- detention, often combined with tasks as study, (extra) homework etc.
- grounding in general or specific refusal of permisson to participate in some fun activity or to see a friend (usually seen as a bad influence)
- temporary removal of privileges (e.g. telephone, TV or computer use)
- confiscation (usually temporary) of a toy or other personal item, separation from a pet
- denial of treats such as dessert, favorite meal, even no dinner
- extra chores
- writing lines or an imposed essay (often on a 'fitting' subject)
- fining, usually by deduction from the allowance

Other

- penance
- psychological punishments

Possible reasons for punishment

See also: Criminal justice

Deterrence

Deterrence means dissuading someone from future wrongdoing, by making the punishment severe enough that the benefit gained from the offense is outweighed by the cost (and probability) of the punishment. Deterrence is a very common reason given for why someone should be punished. However, it is sometimes claimed that using punishment as a deterrent has the fundamental flaw that human nature tends to ignore the possibility of punishment until they are caught, and actually can be attracted even more to the 'forbidden fruit', or even for various reasons glorify the punishee, e.g. admiring a fellow for 'taking it like a man'.

Rehabilitation

Some punishment includes work to reform and rehabilitate the wrongdoer so that they will not commit the offense again. This is different from deterrence, in that the goal here is to change the offender's attitude to what they have done, and make them come to accept that their behaviour was wrong.

Incapacitation

In the prison system, imprisonment has the effect of confining prisoners, physically preventing them from committing crimes against those outside, i.e. protecting the community. The most dangerous criminals may be sentenced to life imprisonment, or even to irreparable alternatives -the death penalty, or castration of sexual offenders- for this reason of the common good.

Restoration

For minor offences, punishment may take the form of the offender "righting the wrong"; for example, a vandal might be made to clean up the mess he has made. In more serious cases, punishment in the form of fines and compensation payments may also be considered a sort of "restoration".

Retributive justice, or Retribution

Retribution is the practice of "getting even" with a wrongdoer - the suffering of the wrongdoer is seen as good in itself, even if it has no other benefits. One reason for societies to include this judicial element is to diminish the perceived need for street justice, blood revenge, and vigilantism.
- A specific way to elaborate this concept in the very punishment is the mirror punishment, a penal form of 'poetic justice' which reflects the nature or means of the crime in the means of (mainly corporal) punishment. Often this implies punishing the part of the victim's body used to commit the crime. Extreme examples include the amputation of the hands of a thief, as still permitted by Sharia law, or during the Middle Ages in Europe; or disabling the foot or leg of a runaway slave. Other examples include the punishment of adulterous women by the insertion of irritating substances, such as hot pepper, into their vagina, e.g. the French song Les Radis by Georges Brassens tells of an adulterous woman being punished by the public insertion of a large radish into her rectum. A less extreme example is the American tradition of putting soap into a child's mouth for using inappropriate language (called "washing your mouth out with soap"). Another method is to mirror the physical method of the crime, e.g. executing a murderer with his own weapon, or more far-fetched, such as boiling alive a counterfeiter (because bullion is boiled to mint).

References

- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
- [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/punishment/ Punishment]
- [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-punishment/ Legal Punishment]
- Category:Core issues in ethics Category:Learning Category:Social philosophy Category:Sociology ja:刑罰

Torture

was an infamous torture device.]] Torture is is the infliction of severe physical or psychological torment as an expression of cruelty, a means of intimidation, deterrent, revenge or punishment, or as a tool for the extraction of information or confessions. Torture is almost universally considered to be an extreme violation of human rights, as stated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Signatories of the Third Geneva Convention and Fourth Geneva Convention agree not to torture protected persons (enemy civilians and POWs) in armed conflicts, and signatories of the UN Convention Against Torture agree not to intentionally inflict severe pain or suffering on anyone, to obtain information or a confession, to punish them, or to coerce them or a third person. These conventions and agreements notwithstanding, it is estimated by organizations such as Amnesty International that around 2/3 of countries do not consistently abide by the spirit of such treaties.

Current legal status of torture

On December 10, 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Article 5 states "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". Since that time the use of torture has been regulated by a number of international treaties, of which the two major ones are the United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions.

United Nations Convention Against Torture

The "United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment"(UNCAT) came into force in June 1987. The most relevant articles are articles 1, 2, 3 and the first paragraph of article 16. :Article 1 :1. Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions. :2. This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application. 1 :Article 2 :1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. :2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political in stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. :3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture. :Article 3 :1. No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. :2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. :Article 16 :1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article I, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. In particular, the obligations contained in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 shall apply with the substitution for references to torture of references to other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. There are several points which should be noted:
- Section 1: torture is defined as severe pain or suffering, which means there exist levels of pain and suffering which are not severe enough to be called torture. Discussions on this area of international law are influenced by a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights(ECHR). See the section Other conventions for more details on the ECHR ruling.
- Section 2: If a state has signed the treaty without reservations, then there are no exceptional circumstances whatsoever where a state can use torture and not break its treaty obligations. However the worst sanction which can be applied to a powerful country is a public record that they have broken their treaty obligations. In certain exceptional cases the authorities in those countries may consider that, with plausible deniability, this is an acceptable risk to take as the definition of severe is open to interpretation.
- Section 16: contains the phrase territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, so if the government of a state authorises its personnel to use sensory deprivation on a detainee in territory not under its jurisdiction then it has not broken its treaty obligations. At the moment this treaty has been signed by about half the countries in the world.

Geneva Conventions

The four Geneva Conventions provide protection for people who fall into enemy hands. They envisage war in its traditional form, whereby people in uniforms fight clearly defined enemies in uniform, within a clearly defined arena. It therefore divides people into two explicit groups: combatants and non-combatants (civilians). There is a third group whose existence is implied, but whose treatment is not covered in detail. These are unlawful combatants, such as spies, mercenaries and other combatants who have broken the laws of war, for example by firing on an enemy while flying a white flag. Whilst combatants and non-combatants are provided substantial protection, a lesser level of protection is afforded to unlawful combatants. The third(GCIII) and fourth(GCIV) Geneva Conventions are the two most relevant for the treatment of the victims of conflicts. Both treaties state in their similarly worded article 3 that in a non-international armed conflict that "Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms... shall in all circumstances be treated humanely and that there must not be any "violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture." or "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment". Under GCIV most enemy civilians in an international armed conflict will be "Protected Persons" under the meaning of GCIV, (see exemptions section immediately after this for those who are not). Under article 32, protected persons have the right to protection from "murder, torture, corporal punishments, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments...but also to any other measures of brutality whether applied by non-combatant or military agents." The treatment of prisoners of war (POWs) in an international armed conflict is covered by GCIII. In particular article 17 states that "No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.". GCIII POW status has far fewer exemptions than "Protected Person" status under GCIV. If a person is an enemy combatant in an international armed conflict, then they will have the protection of GCIII and be entitled to be regarded as POWs under GCIII unless they are an unlawful combatant. If there is a question of whether the combatant is an unlawful combatant, they must be treated as POW's "until their status has been determined by a competent tribunal" (GCIII article 5). If the tribunal decides that they are an unlawful combatant, and they are a Protected Person under GCIV, they will still have the some protections under GCIV Article 5. They must be "treated with humanity and, in case of trial [for war crimes], shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed by the present Convention". A person, who is found guilty of war crimes in an international armed conflict, or is not protected by GCIV because of some other exemption, is no longer protected by the Geneva Conventions.

Geneva Convention IV exemptions

GCIV provides an important exemption: :"Where in the territory of a Party to the conflict, the latter is satisfied that an individual protected person is definitely suspected of or engaged in activities hostile to the security of the State, such individual person shall not be entitled to claim such rights and privileges under the present Convention [ie GCIV] as would ... be prejudicial to the security of such State." (GCIV article 5) In a conflict like the U.S. War on Terrorism many so-called "unlawful combatants" have been controversially denied protection under the Geneva Conventions, because they are either excluded by their nationality (see below) or they are deemed to be so dangerous that Article 5 can be invoked. There are two further groups who are not protected by GCIV: # Nationals of a State which is not bound by the Convention are not protected by it. # Nationals of a neutral State in the territory of a combatant State, and nationals of a co-belligerent State, cannot claim the protection of GCIV if their home state has normal diplomatic representation in the State that holds them (article 4). Since nearly every state has diplomatic recognition of every other state, most citizens of neutral countries in a war zone are not able to claim any protection from GCIV.

Geneva Conventions' Additional Protocols

In addition, there are two additional protocols to the Geneva Convention: Protocol I (1977), relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts and Protocol II (1977), relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts. These clarify and extend the definitions in some areas, but to date many countries, including the United States, have either not signed them or have not ratified them. Protocol I does not explicitly mention torture but it does clarify one or two points which effect the treatment of POWs and Protected Persons. The first is that it explicitly involves "the appointment of Protecting Powers and of their substitute" to monitor that the Conventions are being enforced by the Parties to the conflict. It also broadens the definition of a lawful combatant in occupied territory to include those who carry arms openly but are not wearing uniforms, so that they are now lawful combatants and protected by the Geneva Conventions. It also defines who is a mercenary and therefore an unlawful combatant and not protected by the same conventions. Protocol II "develops and supplements Article 3 [relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts] common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 without modifying its existing conditions of application" . It states in Article 4.a "Violence to the life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder as well as cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment;", Article 4.b "Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault;" and Article 4.h "Threats to commit any of the foregoing acts". There are other clauses in other articles which entreat humane treatment of enemy personnel in an internal conflict, which have a bearing on the use of torture, but there are no other clauses which explicitly mentions torture.

Other conventions

During the Cold War, in Europe a treaty called European Convention on Human Rights was signed. The treaty was based on the UDHR. It included the provision for a court to interpret the treaty and Article 3 "Prohibition of torture" stated "No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". In 1978 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the five techniques of "sensory deprivation" were not torture but were "inhuman or degrading treatment". See Accusations of use of torture by United Kingdom for details. This case was 9 years before the UNCAT came into force and had an influence on States thinking about what constitutes torture ever since.

Supervision of anti-torture treaties

In times of armed conflict between a signatory of the Geneva conventions and another party, delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) monitor the compliance of signatory to the Geneva Conventions, which includes monitoring the use of torture. The Istanbul Protocol, an official UN document, is the first set of international guidelines for documentation of torture and its consequences. It became a United Nations official document in 1999. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) "shall, by means of visits, examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the protection of such persons from torture and from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." as stipulated in Article 1 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, are actively involved in working to stop the use of torture throughout the world and publish reports on any activities they consider to be torture.

Domestic and national law

Countries which have signed the "United Nations Convention Against Torture", have a treaty obligation to include the provisions into domestic law. The laws of many countries therefore formally prohibit torture. However, such de jure legal provisions are by no means a proof that, de facto, the signatory country does not use torture. To prevent torture, many legal systems have a right against self-incrimination or explicitly prohibit undue force when dealing with suspects. Torture was abolished in England about 1640 (except peine forte et dure which was only abolished in 1772), in Scotland in 1708, in Prussia in 1740, in Russia in 1801. The French 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, of constitutional value, prohibits submitting suspects to any hardship not necessary to secure his person. Statute law explicitly makes torture a crime. In addition, statute law prohibits the police or justice from interrogating suspects under oath. The United States includes this right in the fifth amendment to its constitution, which in turn serves as the basis of the Miranda warning that is issued to individuals upon their arrest. Additionally, the US Constitution's eighth amendment expressly forbids the use of "cruel and unusual punishments", which is widely interpreted as a prohibition of the use of torture. However, there has been some debate over the interpretation of U.S. and international law. In 2002 a controversial Justice Department memo, since repudiated, defined torture as "intentionally causing permanent damage to vital organs or permanent emotional trauma" (so techniques such as electric shocks are considered acceptable). Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle acknowledged that confessions obtained under duress would be acceptable as evidence in Guantanamo Bay. As of November 5, 2005: US Congress is considering attaching Senator John McCain's amendment banning torture to the 2006 Defense appropriations bill; McCain has himself experienced torture as a prisoner of the Viet Cong. The amendment would ensure an end to the U.S. use of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and extraordinary rendition, which have become common practice since September 11, 2001. However, Vice President Dick Cheney and other Republicans are asking for exemptions for the CIA in the torture ban.

Use of torture

Recent times in the context of this article is from December 10, 1948 when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

Torture in the past

United Nations General Assembly during the Spanish Inquisition. Circa 1700 AD. According to Herrera Puga the authorities:
"placed no limits on the means; in this way they used the rack, the lash, fire, etc. In some cases... they applied padlocked irons to the flesh which even led to the amputation of a hand..." ]] Torture was used by many governments and countries in the past. In the Roman Republic, for example, a slave's testimony was admissible only if it was extracted by torture, on the assumption that slaves could not be trusted to reveal the truth voluntarily. In much of Europe, medieval and early modern courts freely inflicted torture, depending on the accused's crime and the social status of the suspect. Torture was seen as a legitimate means for justice to extract confessions, or obtain the names of accomplices or other information about the crime. Often, defendants sentenced to death would be tortured prior to execution, so as to have a last chance that they disclose the names of their accomplices. Torture in the Medieval Inquisition was used starting in 1252. In the Middle Ages especially and up into the 18th century, torture was considered a legitimate way to obtain testimonies and confessions from suspects for use in judicial inquiries and trials. The torture methods used by inquisitors were mild compared to secular courts, as they were forbidden to use methods that resulted in bloodshed, mutilation or death. One of the most common forms of medieval inquisition torture was known as strappado. The hands were bound behind the back with a rope, and the accused was suspended this way, dislocating the joints painfully in both arms. Weights could be added to the legs dislocating those joints as well. Other torture methods could include the rack (stretching the victim’s joints to breaking point), the thumbscrew, the boot (crushing the foot and leg), water (massive quantities of water forcibly ingested), and the medieval red-hot pincers, although it was technically against church policy to mutilate a person's body. If stronger methods were needed, or death, the person was handed over to the secular authorities who were not bound by any restrictions. In 1613 Anton Praetorius described the situation of the prisoners in the dungeons in his book "Gründlicher Bericht über Zauberey und Zauberer" (Thorough Report about Sorcery and Sorcerers). He was one of the first to protest against all means of torture.

Torture in recent times

Torture remains a frequent method of repression in totalitarian regimes, terrorist organizations and organized crime. In authoritarian regimes, torture is often used to extract confessions from political dissenters, so that they admit to being spies or conspirators, probably manipulated by some foreign country. Most notably, such a dynamic of forced confessions marked the justice system of the Soviet Union (thoroughly described in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago). Some Western democratic governments have on occasions resorted to torture, or acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, of people thought to possess information perceived to be vital for national security which can not be obtained quickly by other methods. As recently as 1976, the European Commission on Human Rights found the British government guilty of "torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. From 1972 onwards when Amnesty International published its path-breaking "Report of an Enquiry into Allegations of Ill Treatment in Northern Ireland" the organization has maintained a fairly continuous drumbeat of revelations and recommendations about the behaviour of British operatives in Northern Ireland. Many countries find it expedient from time to time to use techniques of a kind used in torture; at the same time few wish to be described as doing so, either to their own citizens or international bodies. So a variety of devices are used to bridge this gap, including state denial, "secret police", "need to know", denial that given treatments are torturous in nature, appeal to various laws (national or international), use of jurisdictional argument, claim of "overriding need", and so on. Torture has been a tool of many states throughout history and for many states it remains so (unofficially and when expedient and desired) today. Despite worldwide condemnation and the existence of treaty provisions that forbid it, torture is still practiced in two thirds of the world's nations. .

Torture by proxy

In 2003, Britain's Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, made accusations that information was being extracted under extreme torture from dissidents in that country, and that the information was subsequently being used by Britain and other western, democratic countries which officially disapproved of torture . The accusations did not lead to any investigation by his employer, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and he resigned after disciplinary action was taken against him in 2004. No misconduct by him was proven. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office itself is being investigated by the National Audit Office because of accusations of victimisation, bullying and intimidating its own staff . Murray later stated that he felt that he had unwittingly stumbled upon what has elsewhere been called "torture by proxy" and with the euphemism of "extraordinary rendition" by the American administration. He thought that Western countries moved people to regimes and nations where it was known that information would be extracted by torture, and made available to them. This he alleged was a circumvention and violation of any agreement to abide by international treaties against torture. If it was true that a country was doing this and it had signed the UN Convention Against Torture then that country would be in specific breach of Article 3 of that convention.

Aspects of torture

The use of torture has been criticized not only on humanitarian and moral grounds, but on the grounds that evidence extracted by torture tends to be extremely unreliable and that the use of torture corrupts institutions which tolerate it. The purpose of torture is often as much to force acquiescence on an enemy, or destroy a person psychologically from within, as it is to gain information, and its effects endure long after the torture itself has ended. In this sense torture is often described by survivors as "never ending". See Psychology of torture to study the pyschological effects associated with torture.

Psychological Torture

Psychological torture is torture directed to the psyche as opposed to the body. It uses (nominally) non-violent torments to damage or destroy the subject's mental, emotional, and psychological well-being. Psychological torture often induces far more lasting and insidious pain, suffering and trauma than its physical counterpart. Forms of psychological torture include:
- Extreme sleep deprivation
- Exposure to extreme temperatures
- 24/7 blindfolding or hooding, to enhance disorientation
- Mock execution
- Being forced to witness atrocities to others.
- Extended solitarity confinement.
- Being forced to commit atrocities to others (including torture).
- Being forced to eat the flesh of a murdered family member.
- Being forced to betray others.
- Re-education with insidious (non-violent) thought-reform techniques.
- Calculated violation of social/sexual taboos.
- Continous calculated humiliations

Incrimination of innocent people

One well documented effect of torture is that with rare exceptions people will say or do anything to escape the situation, including untrue "confessions" and implication of others without genuine knowledge, who may well then be tortured in turn. There are rare exceptions, such as Admiral James Stockdale, Medal of Honor winner, and F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, G.C., who refused to provide information under torture.

Secrecy/publicity

Depending on the culture, torture has at times been carried on in silence (official denial), semi-silence (known but not spoken about) or openly acknowledged in public (in order to instill fear and obedience). Since torture is in general not accepted in modern times, professional torturers in some countries tend to use techniques such as electrical shock, asphyxiation, heat, cold, noise, and sleep deprivation which leave little evidence, although in other contexts torture frequently results in horrific mutilation or death. Evidence of torture also comes from the testimony of witnesses, such as those that testified about the atrocities committed by British troops in Norther Ireland during the Troubles. Evidence also comes from amateur photographers, like those who photographed the torture at Abu Ghraib prison.

Motivation to torture

It was long thought that "good" people would not torture and only "bad" ones would, under normal circumstances. Research over the past 50 years suggests a disquieting alternative view, that under the right circumstances and with the appropriate encouragement and setting, most people can be encouraged to actively torture others. Stages of torture mentality include:
- Reluctant or peripheral participation
- Official encouragement: As the Stanford prison experiment and Milgram experiment show, many people will follow the direction of an authority figure (such as a superior officer) in an official setting (especially if presented as a compulsory obligation), even if they have personal uncertainty. The main motivations for this appear to be fear of loss of status or respect, and the desire to be seen as a "good citizen" or "good subordinate".
- Peer encouragement: to accept torture as necessary, acceptable or deserved, or to comply from a wish to not reject peer group beliefs. At worst this leads to competition between torturers to produce more pain or harsher results.
- Dehumanization: seeing victims as objects of curiosity and experimentation, where pain becomes just another test to see how it affects the victim.
- Disinhibition: socio-cultural and situational pressures may cause torturers to undergo a lessening of moral inhibitions and as a result act in ways not normally countenanced by law, custom and conscience.
- Organisationally, like many other procedures, once torture becomes established as part of internally acceptable norms under certain circumstances, its use often becomes institutionalised and self-perpetuating over time, as what was once used exceptionally for perceived necessity finds more reasons claimed to justify wider use.

Medical torture

Main article: Medical torture At times, medicine and medical practitioners have been drawn into the ranks of torturers, either to judge what victims can endure, to apply treatments which will enhance torture, or as torturers in their own right. An infamous example of the latter is Dr. Josef Mengele, known then by inmates of Auschwitz as the "Angel of Death".

Torture murder

Main article: Torture murder Torture murder is a term given to the commission of torture by an individual or small group, as part of a sadistic or murderous agenda. Such murderers are often serial killers, who kill their victims by slowly torturing them to death over a prolonged period of time, and is usually preceded by a kidnapping where the killer will take the victim to a secluded or isolated location.

Effects of torture

Organizations like the Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture try to help survivors of torture obtain medical treatment and to gain forensic medical evidence to obtain political asylum in a safe country and/or to prosecute the perpetrators. Torture is often difficult to prove, particularly when some time has passed between the event and a medical examination. Many torturers around the world use methods designed to have a maximum psychological impact while leaving only minimal physical traces. Medical and Human Rights Organizations worldwide have collaborated to produce the Istanbul Protocol, a document designed to outline common torture methods, consequences of torture and medico-legal examination techniques. Torture often leads to lasting mental and physical health problems. Physical problems can be wide-ranging, e.g. sexually transmitted diseases, musculo-skeletal problems, brain injury, post-traumatic epilepsy and dementia or chronic pain syndromes. Mental health problems are equally wide-ranging; common are post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety disorder. Treatment of torture-related medical problems might require a wide range of expertise and often specialized experience. Common treatments are psychotropic medication, e.g. SSRI antidepressants, counseling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, family systems therapy and physiotherapy. Main article, see Psychology of torture for psychological impact, and aftermath, of torture.

Torture devices and methods

It is plainly evident that, since the earliest times, tremendous ingenuity has been devoted to devising ever more effective and mechanically simpler instruments and techniques of torture. That those capable of applying such genius to the science of pain could in future employ their capabilities in other directions was not lost on the authorities: for example, after Perillos of Athens demonstrated his newly invented brazen bull to Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, Perillos himself was immediately put inside to test it, but he was removed before he died. Torture does not require complex equipment. Several methods need little or no equipment and can even be improvised from innocuous household or kitchen equipment. Methods such as consumption by wild animals (antiquity), impalement (Middle Ages) or confinement in iron boxes in the tropical sun (World War II Asia), are examples of other methods which required little more than readily available items.

Torture using chemicals

Torture victims may be forced to ingest chemicals or other products (such as broken glass, heated water, or soaps) that cause pain and internal damage. Irritating chemicals or products may be inserted into the rectum or vagina, or applied on the external genitalia. Cases of women being punished for adultery by having hot peppers inserted into their vaginas were reported in India. Similar means were used in many instances in African strife. It was widely accepted that during British rule over India, the police would make people confess by inserting chilies in various body orifices.

Electrical torture

A modern method of torture is to apply electrical shocks to the body. For added effects, torturers may apply the shocks to the genitalia or insert the electrode into the mouth, rectum or vagina.

Torture methods

- Bastinado
- Beatings and physical violence
- Boiling
- The boot
- Castration
- Chinese Water Torture
- Denailing
- Disfigurement
- Drowning or Water cure
- Flagellation
- Flaying
- Foot roasting
- Solitary confinement
- Mancuerda
- Mock executions
- Peine forte et dure (Pressing)
- Pitchcapping
- Rape
- Scaphism
- Sensory deprivation
- Shabach technique
- Sleep deprivation
- Sound (Extremely high volumes, dynamic range, low frequency or noise intended to interfere with rest, cognition and concentration)
- The Spanish boot
- Squassation
- Strappado (also known as "reverse hanging" and "Palestinian hanging")
- Ta'liq hanging from a metal bar. "Kentucky Chicken"
- Tickling
- Water boarding
- Whipping

Torture devices

- Brazen bull
- Breaking wheel
- Iron Maiden
- Judas Chair
- Peace breaker's muzzle
- Pear of Anguish
- Pillory
- Rack
- Scavenger's daughter
- Scold's bridle
- Spanish boot
- Stocks
- Tablillas
- Thumbscrew
- Tucker telephone

Methods of execution and capital punishment

Any method of execution which involves, or has the potential to involve, a great deal of pain or mutilation is considered to be torture and unacceptable to many who support capital punishment. Some of these, if halted soon enough, may not have fatal effects.
- Burning at the stake
- Beating
- Boiling to death
- Burial alive
- Roasting in the brazen bull
- Crucifixion
- Crushing
- Disembowelment
- Drawing and quartering
- Eaten alive (eg by wild beasts)
- Electric chair
- Garroting
- Gas chamber
- Hanging (no drop or short drop)
- Impaling
- Lethal injection (supposed to be next to painless, but agonizingly painful if the anaesthetic drugs fail to keep the paralysed victim unconscious as he/she dies (as with John Wayne Gacy))
- Sawing
- Stoning
- "The boats": see Scaphism

Quotes

Philip Limborch, a preacher and able annotator, quotes in his History of the Inquisition, a writer of the name of Julius Clarus, whom it would appear formed a very forcible idea of the powers of imagination, since he allows them four parts in five of the torments decreed by that satanic tribunal. Limborch represents Clarus as saying, "Know that there are five degrees of torture, videlicit, first, the torture of being threatened to be tortured; secondly, the torture of being conveyed to the place of torture; thirdly, the torture of being, and bound for torture; fourthly, the torture of being hoisted on the torturing rack; and fifthly, and lastly, the torture of squassation."

Other meanings of the word

Especially in countries where citizens can expect to be spared routine exposure to real torture, the word "torture" is used loosely (and to some people, inappropriately) for ordinary, even accidental discomforts. For example, "I was stuck in a traffic jam for three hours today, it was torture!" Rather paradoxically the term is also commonly used in BDSM, where similar methods to inflict pain and/or humiliation are used, though generally in mitigated form, as games, i.e. for the inverse purpose of giving the 'players' sexual and/or fetish pleasure from inflicting and/or enduring the 'torturous' discipline. This is even true for techniques such as genitorture, which can only be used in a virtual parody since the real thing implies inacceptable medical risks. The root word of torture is 'to twist'. It means to apply torque, to turn abnormally, to distort, or to strain.

Etymology

The word came from Latin tortura for
- torqu-tura, originally meaning "act of twisting".

External links

- Torture in the past
- [http://www.medieval-castles.org/torture.htm Medieval Torture Devices - Information]
- [http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1863/july/whipped-slave.htm Account of Slave Torture] in 1863
- Psychology of torture
- [http://www.torturecare.org.uk Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture]
- [http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996727 Everyone Is a Potential torturer], New Scientist, 25 November 2004, reporting on
- Fiske et al., SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: Why Ordinary People Torture Enemy Prisoners, Science 2004 306: 1482-1483
- Ethical arguments regarding torture
- [http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/01/when-doctors-go-to-war.html "When Doctors Go to War"]
- [http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/400rhqav.asp?pg=1 The Truth About Torture] - A defense of government torture.
- [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/opinion/06danner.html?oref=login&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position= We Are All Torturers Now] by Mark Danner New York Times, 6 January 2005 [http://www.markdanner.com/nyt/010605_torturers.htm same article on Danner's website]
- [http://www.slate.com/id/2119122/nav/ais/ What Is Torture? An interactive primer on American interrogation] by Emily Bazelon, Phillip Carter, and Dahlia Lithwick, May 26, 2005 for Slate A Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Company
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/30/AR2005063001680.html The Stain of Torture] by Burton J. Lee III, former presidential physician to George W. Bush Washington Post July 1, 2005
- [http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051104/EDIT/511040330/1003 Torture is a Crime not a policy] Cincinnati Post, November 4, 2005
- Other
- [http://ariwatch.com/Torture.htm Torture and the Ayn Rand Institute]
- [http://www.serendipity.li/hr/torture.htm Torture] can never be justified.

Footnotes

# [http://www.cpt.coe.int/ European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)] # [http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/hcc4/htm/i.vi.viii.htm History of the Christian Church, Volume IV: Mediaeval Christianity. A.D. 590-1073. Chapter VI. Morals And Religion: Page 80:The Torture] by Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) # [http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0013250.html Hutchinson's Encyclopaedia: Torture] #[http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1104-07.htm Organizations, Local Governments, Veterans, and the Public Urge End to US Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment] November 4 2005. On the "Common Dreams a NewsWire" a "Progressive Community NewsWire". #[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110500410.html Cheney Seeks CIA Exemption to Torture Ban] by David Espo and Liz Sidoti for The Associated Press in the Washington Post November 5 2005 #[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/opinion/23HOCH.html?ex=1086315207&ei=1&en=dd8a4b003ac8f504 New York Times, Sunday, May 23, 2004] This link needs fixing. See the references [http://hnn.us/articles/5352.html in this link]. This could be one of two articles. #
- Susan Sontag, "Regarding the Torture of Others: Notes on what has been done – and why – to prisoners, by Americans," New York Times Magazine, Sunday, May 23, 2004, 24-29, 42.[http://www.southerncrossreview.org/35/sontag.htm alternative source] #
- Adam Hochschild, "What’s in a Word? Torture" New York Times, Sunday, May 23, 2004, Week in Review. May 23 may go down as the day on which a number of commentators finally faced up to the practice of torture – on [http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/topstories_story_065094819.html 60 Minutes the same evening], Andy Rooney echoed both Sontag and Hochschild. [http://www.peaceredding.org/What's%20in%20a%20Word%20Torture.htm alternative source] # [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/23/nenv23.xml&s The envoy silenced after telling undiplomatic truths], The Daily Telegraph 23 October 2004 # as reported in the Sunday Times on 20 March 2005 # [http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/?050214on_onlineonly01 Q & A: Torture by Proxy] Jane Mayer answers question asked by Amy Davidson The New Yorker on 14 February 2005 Category:Human rights abuses Category:Violence
- ms:Siksa ja:拷問

School (discipline)

:For other things named school, see school (disambiguation). A school is a collection or group of people who share common characteristics of either outlook (a school of thought or a school of belief) or practice (such as a school of painters). Schools are often characterized by their currency, and thus classified into "new" and "old" schools. This dichotomy is often a component of paradigm shift. However, it is rarely the case that there are only two schools in any given field. Schools are often named after their founders (e.g. the "Rinzai school" of Zen named after Linji and the Asharite school of early Muslim philosophy named after Abu l'Hasan al-Ashari) or their places of origin (e.g. the Ionian school of philosophy that originated in Ionia and the Chicago school of architecture that originated in Chicago, Illinois).

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. It refers not only to the geographical peninsula of modern Greece, but also to areas of Hellenic culture that were settled in ancient times by Greeks: Cyprus, the Aegean coast of Turkey (then known as Ionia), Sicily and southern Italy (known as Magna Graecia), and the scattered Greek settlements on the coasts of what are now Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Libya, southern France, southern Spain, Catalonia, Georgia, Romania, and Ukraine. There are no fixed or universally agreed upon dates for the beginning or the end of the Ancient Greek period. In common usage it refers to all Greek history before the Roman Empire, but historians use the term more precisely. Some writers include the periods of the Greek-speaking Mycenaean civilization that collapsed about 1100 BC, though most would argue that the influential Minoan was so different from later Greek cultures that it should be classed separately. In the modern Greek school-books, "ancient times" is a period of about 1000 years (from the catastrophe of Mycenae until the conquest of the country by the Romans) that is divided in four periods, based on styles of art as much as culture and politics. The historical line starts with Greek Dark Ages (1100–800 BC). In this period artists use geometrical schemes such as squares, circles, lines to decorate amphoras and other pottery. The archaic period (800–500 BC) represents those years when the artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, hieratic poses with the dreamlike "archaic smile". In the classical years (500–323 BC) artists perfected the style that since has been taken as exemplary: "classical", such as the (Parthenon). In the Hellenistic years that followed the conquests of Alexander (323–146 BC), also known as Alexandrian, aspects of Hellenic civilization expanded to Egypt and Bactria. Traditionally, the Ancient Greek period was taken to begin with the date of the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, but many historians now extend the term back to about 1000 BC. The traditional date for the end of the Ancient Greek period is the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC (The following period is classed Hellenistic) or the integration of Greece into the Roman Republic in 146 BC. These dates are historians' conventions and some writers treat the Ancient Greek civilization as a continuum running until the advent of Christianity in the third century AD. Ancient Greece is considered by most historians to be the foundational culture of Western Civilization. Greek culture was a powerful influence in the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of Europe. Ancient Greek civilization has been immensely influential on the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, art and architecture of the modern world, particularly during the Renaissance in Western Europe and again during various neo-Classical revivals in 18th and 19th century Europe and The Americas.

Origins

The Americas The Greeks are believed to have migrated southward into the Greek peninsula in several waves beginning in the late 3rd millennium BC, the last being the Dorian invasion. The period from 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is described in History of Mycenaean Greece known for the reign of King Agamemnon and the wars against Troy as narrated in the epics of Homer. The period from 1100 BC to the 8th century BC is a "dark age" from which no primary texts survive, and only scant archaeological evidence remains. Secondary and tertiary texts such as Herodotus' Histories, Pausanias' Description of Greece, Diodorus' Bibliotheca and Jerome's Chronicon, contain brief chronologies and king lists for this period. The history of Ancient Greece is often taken to end with the reign of Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC. Subsequent events are described in Hellenistic Greece. Any history of Ancient Greece requires a cautionary note on sources. Those Greek historians and political writers whose works have survived, notably Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato and Aristotle, were mostly either Athenian or pro-Athenian. That is why we know far more about the history and politics of Athens than of any other city, and why we know almost nothing about some cities' histories. These writers, furthermore, concentrate almost wholly on political, military and diplomatic history, and ignore economic and social history. All histories of Ancient Greece have to contend with these limits in their sources.

The rise of Hellas

In the 8th century BC Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization. Literacy had been lost and the Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet to Greek and from about 800 BC written records begin to appear. Greece was divided into many small self-governing communities, a pattern dictated by Greek geography, where every island, valley and plain is cut off from its neighbors by the sea or mountain ranges. 800 BC. It was the greatest architectural statement of 5th century BC Greece]] As Greece recovered economically, its population grew beyond