THE TERRORS OF TORTURE: Authors' response

Abstract

As the various quotes from international declarations included in our article underscore, torture is on par with other forms of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Unlike ages past, when a criminal sentence might have included both incarceration and some form of corporal punishment such as lashing, starvation or cells kept very cold, such double punishment is no longer imposed by U.S. courts and, indeed, by most jurisdictions. Nowadays, corporal punishments generally are considered inhuman and degrading, and the withholding of much-needed health care from sick or suffering inmates would qualify as such. THE TERRORS OF TORTUREThe Journal of the American Dental AssociationVol. 140Issue 4PreviewI was pleased to see Dr. Richard Speers and colleagues' December JADA article, “Preventing Dentists' Involvement in Torture: The Developmental History of a New International Declaration” (Speers RD, Brands WG, Nuzzolese E, Smith D, Swiss PBF, van Woensel M, Welie JVM. JADA 2008;139[12]:1667–1673 ). The use of torture is not uncommon in many parts of the world, and it is entirely possible that dentists could become participants in such human rights violations. The Journal should be commended for bringing this issue before the profession. Full-Text PDF