torture: References & Edit History
More Articles On This Topic
- Abu Ghraib prison
- Cruel and Unusual Punishments15 Types of Torture
- confessionConfession in China, Japan, and India
- crimeInterrogation and confession
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- human rightsInternational human rights in domestic courts
- international lawIndividuals
- medical jurisprudence
- rapeScope, effects, and motivations
- collective violenceTerrorism
Additional Reading
Works examining the history of torture are John H. Langbein, Torture and the Law of Proof: Europe and England in the Ancien Régime (1977, reissued 2006); Malise Ruthven, Torture: The Grand Conspiracy (1978); and Edward Peters, Torture, expanded ed. (1996). Groundbreaking reports on 20th-century uses of torture are described in Amnesty International, Report on Torture, 2nd ed. (1975), and Torture in the Eighties (1984).
Discussions of international laws banning torture include J. Herman Burgers and Hans Danelius, The United Nations Convention Against Torture: A Handbook on the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1988); Nigel S. Rodley, The Treatment of Prisoners Under International Law, 2nd ed. (1999); and Malcolm D. Evans and Rod Morgan, Preventing Torture: A Study of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1998). Torture as a defense against terrorism is discussed in Karen J. Greenberg and Joshua L. Dratel (eds.), The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib (2005); while a conceptual examination of the absolute prohibition of torture is found in Sanford Levinson (ed.), Torture: A Collection (2004).
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
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Nigel S. Rodley
Professor of Law, University of Essex and former Special Rapporteur, United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors
Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - The Ethics of Torture. | Oct 17, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons - Defining Torture (PDF). | Feb 20, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: Scholarly Commons at Boston University School of Law - Unspeakably Cruel: Torture, Medical Ethics, and the Law (PDF). | Oct 07, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Golden Gate University Digital Commons - The Effectiveness of International Law: Torture and Counterterrorism (PDF). | Aug 30, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: CORE - Torture (PDF). | Jul 05, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: CORE - Torture (PDF). | May 24, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: ABC listen - The Philosopher's Zone - The ecology of torture. | Apr 09, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: UCL Discovery - The psychological impact of torture (PDF). | Jan 30, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: International Justice Resource Center - Torture. | Sep 27, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management - Torture and the Commitment Problem. | Jul 04, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Better Health Channel - Torture and trauma. | Apr 11, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Human Rights Advocacy and the History of Human Rights Standards - Torture. | Feb 29, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Clinical Examination and Reporting of a Victim of Torture. | May 05, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Amnesty International - Torture. | Feb 01, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - The Ethics of Torture. | Dec 25, 2022 | ||
| Revised definition of waterboarding to indicate that it consists of interrupted or controlled drowning. | Oct 04, 2010 | ||
| Media added. | Jul 08, 2010 | ||
| Added new Web site: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Torture. | Apr 07, 2009 | ||
| Added new Web site: How Stuff Works - Science - When Is Torture Legal? | Feb 10, 2009 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Apr 17, 2008 | ||
| Bibliography revised. | Dec 12, 2007 | ||
| Article thoroughly revised. | Dec 12, 2007 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Jul 20, 1998 |