the.com/torture
The deliberate infliction of severe suffering, often to punish, control, or coerce another person.
means The deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering, often to punish, intimidate, or extract information or a confession.
from From Latin tortura, 'a twisting, writhing, torment,' built on torquere, 'to twist' — the same root that gives us torque and contort. The word literally pictures a body bent and wrenched out of its natural shape, which is grimly fitting: it entered English via French in the late medieval period, originally describing judicial torment used to compel confession.
- legal flaw
- confessions under duress are famously, provably unreliable
- etymology
- from latin torquere, to twist
- historical norm
- was courtroom evidence standard for centuries, not an aberration
- global status
- banned by treaty everywhere, practiced somewhere almost always