Toture: paradigms, practices, and policies.

• Author: Beaudoin, Cynthia H.

FOREWORD

On Wednesday, October 15, 2003, seven scholars convened at Albany Law School to discuss a problem that continues to plague the world. The title of the symposium was, "Torture: Paradigms, Practices, and Policies." The theme was the use of torture, and its sanction by governments. The participants came from different parts of the world, bringing to the conference their training in different disciplines and their various approaches to the questions at hand. They generously shared their thoughts, experiences, and research. In doing so, they sparked new trains of thought.

The topic for this symposium was chosen in the spring of 2003, while the country was still grappling with the turmoil following the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The atmosphere in the country was still tense and defensive. For the first time, Americans felt truly vulnerable to unpredictable attack from unknown quarters within our own country. There was discussion in the news media of the whether our national security could benefit from some limited use of torture, and whether the use of torture could be made to fit within our constitutional framework. This discussion first sparked a public debate over whether we could ever countenance the use of torture. If we could, the questions then became: under what circumstances and to what degree of severity? These were some of the issues the panelists came to Albany Law School to consider. Many of them chose to recognize and specifically respond to the question of whether torture is a tolerable means of enhancing national security. Others took a less direct approach, offering viewpoints grounded in their own academic disciplines studying both the victims and the perpetrators.

The participants were divided into two panels: one entitled "Issues Unresolved;" the other, "Practices Unchecked." The first panel, "Issues Unresolved," examined ways in which the law has responded to the practice of torture--the attempts to define it, codify prohibitions against it, and create remedies for those who have suffered it. This panel explored existing legal responses and their many limitations.

The first panelist, Professor Eric Engle, offered an historical overview of the use of torture in Europe, followed by a discussion of the Torture Victims Protection Act and the Alien Tort Claims Act, two U.S. laws created to provide a right of action for victims of a variety of wrongs, including torture. Professor Engle also outlined the...