95 Ethics of Torture (1/2)

Sebastian hadn't told me what today's class was about, so I was in the dark about this. I was talking to individual students, taking questions about the course and date of submissions when Sebastian walked in. I nodded towards him and walked towards the end of the class.

”In today's class, we will be evaluating torture and its effects on the victim.” My eyes shot to him, my hands pausing over the keyboard. Was this why he had kept it from me? He glanced at me passively and didn't even acknowledge it.

”We'll be looking over a couple of cases and I will put it up to you to decide how the victims need to be rehabilitated.”

The first couple of cases dealt with state authenticated torture and captivity of terrorists. The class was fired up, people firing out their opinions.

”The question I want to pose is, does a criminal deserve to be tortured and treated inhumanly?” Sebastian stood back, his eyes roaming over the students. Mostly, the undergraduates and post-graduate students pointed out their opinions.

”In my opinion, if the torture and captivity of a criminal can lead to extraction of information that can save many more lives, I don't see the problem with it.” I flinched. It didn't sit well with me.

”Then, in your opinion...” Sebastian began. ”If torturing a criminal saved a hundred thousand lives, it is okay to torture them, is that right?” Some students nodded. ”Okay, raise your hand if you agree.” His command was received well.

”Okay. If torturing a criminal saves one life, is that okay?” People still raised their hands.

”Then, if we torture the criminal, and no lives are saved. Is it still right?” There was silence in the class. People still raised their hands. He picked one of them and asked them to stand up. ”Don't be scared,” he assured the guy. ”I'll give you a hypothetical question.” Sebastian looked around the class, he pointed towards the girl this guy liked and pulled her up. Just because.

The manipulative man. I shook my head.

”She is the criminal in question,” he said. ”She has allegedly planted a bomb within the city and you need to find out where it is,” he explained. I sat back and watched him look down at his desk calculatingly. ”Will you torture her to find out?” he asked.

The guy gulped and hesitated before nodding.

”What about everyone else?” There was radio silence. ”Raise your hands,” he commanded. Some did. There was a long silence.