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Ethics Of Torture Essay

1120 Words5 Pages

In Frankfurt, Germany in September 2002, Magnus Gäfgen was arrested for the kidnapping for ransom and murder of 11 year old Jakob von Metzler. However, he would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison a year after his crime was committed. After his arrest he refused to tell the officers where von Metzler was located, that is, until he was threatened with torture by the deputy police chief. He would then confess that he in fact had already murdered the child. In 2005, he complained of suffering from trauma caused by the threat of torture, and demanded some sort of compensation. Therefore, due to torture, even the threat of torture, being against German, the deputy police chief was sentenced to a short time in prison. The class was told …show more content…

Many say no torture because they fear it would “corrupt democratic institutions, diminish our moral authority in the world, cause torture to become routine and widespread in society, and arouse worldwide resentment and anger towards us” (688). They would say that torture is not morally permissible, and does not truly work. A non-consequentialist might believe that torture disregards human life, and is disrespectful, no matter what the other has done. They would say that the answer to torture “is an absolutist no - torture is the use of a person merely as a means, a clear instance of a lack of respect for a human being. Torture is therefore always wrong” (687). However, even though someone may think torture is wrong, most have an exception to their belief. Some are even “convinced that the use of torture is inevitable” (688). A Kantian would say that the respect of the human rights of the kidnapper is still important, and that by threatening to torture him, it is saying that his rights are invalid. Though, he may have not have respected the life of Jakob von Metzler, that is

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