Two-thirds of Americans say the United States should abide by international laws barring governments from ever using physical torture while 29 percent found those laws “too restrictive,” according to a new poll.
The poll was by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), a research group affiliated with the University of Maryland, and Knowledge Networks, a polling and market research firm. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent.
Participants were given scenarios in which interrogators were pursuing information about terrorism and asked what, if any, coercive techniques they would condone. Only one from a list of 14 — sleep deprivation — was consistently approved by a majority. Others on the list included hooding prisoners and sexual humiliation.
The Geneva Convention, which the United States signed in 1949, and the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which the United States signed in 1984, outlaw the use of torture on prisoners of war and other detainees.
“Basically, the public supports the system of international laws restricting torture and coercion, though it would consider making some limited exceptions if there was high confidence that a catastrophic outcome would be prevented,” said Steven Kull, PIPA director. (RNS)
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