Take back the lash.

• Author: Jordan, S.A.
• Position: Letter to the editor

In "Bring Back the Lash" [May/June 2011], Peter Moskos writes, "Perhaps you are concerned that the practice [of flogging] is torture. It is not. Torture is meant to achieve a goal, and until that goal is achieved, it continues. Punishment is finite." This attempt to redefine flogging as non-torture--because it's not for "punishment"--fails upon examination.

The two most frequently cited definitions of torture are from the World Medical Association's 1975 Declaration of Tokyo and the 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture.

The WMA defines torture as "[t]he deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons acting alone or on the orders of any authority, to force another person to yield information, to make a confession, or for any other reason." The UN...