Torture: History's lessons
From my book for Torture class:
Another insight from history is the danger that, once legitimated, torture could develop a constituency with a vested interest in perpetuating it. ...
... Sir James Fitzjames Stephen recorded an observation made to him in India in 1872 about the proclivity of the native police for torturing suspects. "It is far pleasanter to sit comfortably in the shade rubbing red pepper into some poor devil's eyes than to go about in the sun hunting up evidence."
Another insight from history is the danger that, once legitimated, torture could develop a constituency with a vested interest in perpetuating it. ...
... Sir James Fitzjames Stephen recorded an observation made to him in India in 1872 about the proclivity of the native police for torturing suspects. "It is far pleasanter to sit comfortably in the shade rubbing red pepper into some poor devil's eyes than to go about in the sun hunting up evidence."