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The Ethics of Interrogation: Professional Responsibility in an Age of Terror
Author(s): Paul Lauritzen (Author, Contributor)
- Publisher: Georgetown University Press
- Publication Date: 1 July 2013
- Language: English
- Print length: 208 pages
- ISBN-10: 9781589019720
- ISBN-13: 1589019725
Book Description
Are harsh interrogation and torture ever morally justified for a nation at war? Ethicist Paul Lauritzen explores the challenges terrorism poses for the United States and its citizens as it attempts to respond to enemies of our national security. Examining the professions of psychiatry, law, medicine, and the military, Lauritzen analyzes and assesses the debates surrounding the enhanced interrogation regime adopted by the US government as part of its counterterrorism measures in the aftermath of 9/11, and whether or not this regime violates US law and codes of professional ethics. These codes are important, Lauritzen argues, because they provide resources for democracies and professionals seeking to balance concerns about safety with civil liberties; such codes also help shape the character of those within the guild. Lauritzen demonstrates that amidst fierce debates the professions of psychiatry, law, medicine and the military insisted that certain forms of harsh interrogation were deeply incompatible with American values of human rights and respect for human dignity. As he concludes, Americans should be able to say, “This we do not do.”
Editorial Reviews
Review
An important and pioneering book. Paul Lauritzen is to be commended for providing us with an insightful look into the ethical issues that are raised in the interrogation of suspected terrorists.
An indispensable analysis of the need for strict and clear moral limits on what a human person may do in the so-called war against terrorism.
This book provides an important and informed coverage of the legal and ethical issues that need to be considered in assessing the involvement of medical and legal professionals in the management and administration of harsh interrogation techniques bordering on, or amount to, torture against terrorist detainees.
About the Author
Paul Lauritzen is a professor of religious ethics and former director of the Program of Applied Ethics at John Carroll University in Cleveland. He is the author or editor of four books, including Medicine and the Ethics of Care (Georgetown, 2001) and has published extensively on issues in bioethics, human rights, and religious ethics. He is the past coeditor of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics and is currently an associate editor with the Journal of Religious Ethics.
