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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (215253)	1/6/2002 7:50:28 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

it's a violation of the 8th Amendment. I disagree, Lazarus, that this is a barrier to "torture" under certain circumstances. Interpretations of criminal provisions of the Constitution are changing all the time, in the interest of desirable ends justifying means. Two examples: 5th Amendment: "...nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life and limb..." We departed from this when we brought federal charges against lynch mob members in the South who had been acquitted in state courts; notably the killers of the three white civil rights activists who were murdered. We just came up with the new idea that we could prosecute for "civil rights violations" on the same set of facts. While we all applauded that, it was sophistry to argue that it wasn't the same offense. 6th Amendment: "Right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him...." We find ways around this, for example, in child molestation cases, where we don't force a child to confront his abuser in open court. The 8th Amendment doesn't say anything specifically about torture; only "cruel and unusual punishment". It would be less of a stretch to get around this in terrorist cases, than it was in the above examples. For example, one could simply argue that methods which some might characterize as "torture" are not a punishment at all (the person hasn't even been convicted of anything), but rather an aggressive interrogation technique justified in the interest of preventing future crimes. JC