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YeshuaRedeemed

I say yes.

WordsMatter

It is illegal already. The fight now is what is defined as torture

DrummerDude

@WordsMatter What about capital punishment? Even though the question doesn't mention it, isn't electrocuting somebody for a crime the modern equivalent of torture?

AlofRI

I believe it HAS been, that is, in any "civilized" country, and no civilized country condones it in others. There are some wacko religions that indulge in self torture … to show how they are willing to suffer for their "loving god". As I said …. wacko.

AlofRI

@DrummerDude: I would think someone going to hell should be considered torture, and I've had the recommendation a few times. ;-)
There are some crimes that confession, requiring a few "Hail Mary's" just doesn't seem "just". Putting someone in prison for years … or life, ISN'T "torture"??
I think I'd take the type of as-humane-as-we-can-make-it, torture over 50 years or so of looking at the same tiny cell all day, with maybe an hour of "whatever the weather is" outside. Capital punishment under those terms IS a "choice" I might make. We HAVE to punish … to fit the crime. We can be humane about it even if the crime wasn't. It's about the best we can do. According to rumor, GOD might not be that nice. :-(

MayCaesar

@DrummerDude

My understanding of the terminology is that "torture" refers to the act of violence with the purpose of forcing the desired behavior of the individual. For example, the most common purposes of torture are to extract information from someone, or to force someone into a contract.

In this sense, electrocuting someone to death is not really a "torture", since it is merely a means of killing someone, it being extremely painful to the victim being merely an irrelevant detail from the executioner's perspective.

That said, there are execution methods that specifically aim at making the individual suffer as much as possible before death - typically with the purpose of intimidating others. In those cases, I would classify what happens as both torture and execution. Two acts in one, serving two different purposes.

I am not sure if originally death through electrocution was intended as just an acute way to use modern technology, or to prolong the victim's suffering. We would need a historical expert to elaborate on that.

CYDdharta

DrummerDude said:

@WordsMatter What about capital punishment? Even though the question doesn't mention it, isn't electrocuting somebody for a crime the modern equivalent of torture?

Electrocution was adopted because it was considered among the most humane methods of execution. 

This execution method, conceived in 1881 by a Buffalo, New York, dentist named Alfred P. Southwick, was developed throughout the 1880s as a "humane alternative" to hanging, and first used in 1890.

It's the same story as the Guillotine.

YeshuaRedeemed

@WordsMatter Good. I think torturers should be put to death.

YeshuaRedeemed

@AlofRI This debate is not about religion. Stay on topic.