Why Not Torture Terrorists?: Moral, Practical and Legal Aspects of the Ticking

This book addresses a dilemma at the heart of the "war on terror ": is it ever justifiable to torture terrorists in order to save the lives of others, the so called "ticking bomb " scenario? The book starts off with an analysis of the "purely " moral argument from the standpoint of the individual as torturer. It then looks at the issues that arise once a state has decided to sanction torture in certain situations: how to establish factually that the situation is urgent, deciding who to torture, training people to carry out torture, and of course the efficacy of such measures. The final part examines attempts to operate legal systems which tolerate torture; how they relate to the criminal law notion of necessity and to international human rights norms on what constitutes torture.