[Jill]

More historians and scientists weigh in. . .

Torture Has a Long History ... of Not Working

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As a rule, torture is not an effective method of extracting information from prisoners, most experts agree.

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A switch from more physical methods of torture to the psychological approaches emerged in the following decades [since the 1950s] in places such as Vietnam, Central America and Iran, McCoy said, without any definitive proof of their effectiveness.

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Though captives are less resentful when tortured psychologically, it doesn't make their statements any more trustworthy, Rejali said.

"Torture during interrogations rarely yields better information than traditional human intelligence, partly because no one has figured out a precise, reliable way to break human beings or any adequate method to evaluate whether what prisoners say when they do talk is true,"

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There's no such thing as "a little bit of torture," McCoy said of the "light" tactics that are preferred today. Detainees are just as likely to tell their interrogators whatever they want to hear under psychological distress as they are under physical distress, he said, a statement backed up by Sen. John McCain, who himself was tortured as an officer during the Vietnam War.

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Innocent Suspects Confess Under Pressure

A new study finds some people under interrogation will confess to crimes they did not commit, either to end the questioning or because they become convinced they did it.

An unrelated study last year found it is fairly easy to create false memories in people in a lab setting.

Lack of sleep and isolation contribute to false confessions, the scientists say in the new study, announced today.

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In the latest issue of the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, the scientists call for videotaping of confessions so they can be properly analyzed by experts.

"Modern police interrogations involve the use of high-impact social influence techniques [and] sometimes people under the influence of certain techniques can be induced to confess to crimes they did not commit," write Saul Kassin of Williams College and Gisli Gudjonsson of King's College, University of London.

A University of Michigan study last year reached the same conclusion in analyzing 328 cases since 1989 in which DNA exoneration defendants convicted of rape, murder and other serious crimes.

"Enhanced interrogation techniques" have been scientifically proven to be completely useless in gaining truthful and accurate information. Testimony from people who have endured it and/or inflicted it, corroborates these truths, not guesses.