The idea that fear would cause a human to divulge information is not a new idea. Torture is widely used across the world by many groups of people. After World War II, the Geneva Convention prohibited any nation from participating in torture. The emergence of terrorist activity on American soil has raised the question of whether torture should be advocated or prohibited from a moral standpoint. The United States changed the definition of torture in order to forcibly obtain potentially important information from captives. Even though the new clause suggested that many of the methods used by the United States were now legal, other countries still had problems in terms of respecting the Geneva Convention and basic human rights. Proponents of torture promise that countless innocent lives can be saved with information obtained from a single torture victim. Opponents of these advocates suggest that torture often results in misleading information. Morally, torture is not justified because it degrades humans and often leaves victims scarred for life, or even dead. In order to assess the morality of torture, it must be defined. According to the Tokyo Declaration of 1975, torture is “the deliberate, systematic or gratuitous infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons acting alone or on the orders of any authority, to force another person to provide information , to make confessions. or for any other reason. The generality of this definition significantly limits innocuous police questioning. The United Nations changed the definition to include serious physical harm and deliberate intent, and also added that the action cannot be part of a legal sanction. The United States later revised the definition "to include only the most extreme pain" in Section 200...... middle of document...... less outside of intimidation. We are currently debating whether torture would be a useful tool in society, but some people figured out the answer many years ago. Those who commit crimes are often willing to sacrifice their lives to keep the secret. Torture simply lowers us to their standards and facilitates increased terrorist activity in the long run. Why put salt on the wound when you have a bandage? Torture cannot be morally justified. Works Cited 5 Myths About Torture and the Truth by Darius Rejali Definitions of Torture (from the BBC) Torture and the Law (from the BBC) The Government Should Not Allow the Use of Torture to Combat Terrorism by Harvey Silvergate America's Use of Torture During Interrogation of Suspected Terrorists Violates Human Rights By Lisa Hajjar Torture, a Necessary Tool to Save Lives by Mirko Bagaric Taxi to the Dark Side