M1 Disc. Torture of a suspect...

Sandel says,
"Suppose a man has planted a bomb in New York City, and it will explode in twenty-four hours unless the police are able to find it. Should it be legal for the police to use torture to extract information from the suspected bomber?"

No for the reasons listed in the last post. Torture is not effective, it corrupts the torturer, the information may not be accurate, the bomb may fail and finally becoming the villain in the name of justice is the pathway to many horrors throughout history. Its a dark path that in the short term might and that is a dicey might have a good outcome but in the long run is far more likely to do greater damage.

To get information- no. As has been said and proven via interviews and studies, torture is ineffective. The victim(if you will) knows what you want them to say and will say it, simply to end the pain. Although, with the scenario-imposed time time limit of 24 hours, the suspect in this situation may say nothing at all, knowing that the torture will end when the bomb has gone off.

Efforts would be better spent evacuating dense population centers.

It's also worth considering torture(uhm. "alternative interrogation tactics") that have been used by police in the past. I'm talking way past, not anything current. They often captured people actually innocent of the crimes, applied tactics such as no food/water/restroom, no lawyer, extreme psychological questioning, for hours and hours, until the suspect cracked, confessed, and was then sentenced based on that confession.
Only to be *proven* innocent decades later.
Maybe those officers truly believed "hedunit", but they still got the wrong person and applied those tactics.

If it becomes acceptable to torture a bombing suspect, how long until the line slides and it becomes acceptable to torture a murder suspect, a robbery suspect, a vandalism suspect? Until a crime is 100% on a suspect, which is *not* done at the police level, but through a court of law(in theory) then they could very well be torturing an innocent.

Depends on the torture. If it targets their 'will to cause' by impacting their motive then the person might abandon the effort with a shift in priorities.... but I cannot see that as a particularly easy thing for someone who has already gone to those lengths, especially in that timeframe. It might be psychologically traumatic but also rewarding for them. I'm not sure physical pain would play a role in that though.

But, could it be argued they''ve abandoned their human rights by taking a path of murder, and therefore humane standards do not apply (or apply less)?

I’m very careful about hypothetical s. As a man of action and as a life once served as a thug and also as a soldier - yea -
- I have been subjected to this very scenario in real life on both sides of the coin so to speak.
To be able to ask if one should partake in torture , is to not understand all it actually entails. As I stated , in real life - during my youth and what I call my dark times- my “rep” was the hard guy. I used torture to get what it is I or my “ people” needed. Fear is a very strong force and can be mastered on-any level as well as manipulated and even used and taken advantage of. During war - the use of torture is outright spokenly and publicly prohibited but ... there are so many grey lines in real war fare.
My own personal experience .
Each time I participated in this type of behavior there was the “rush” as well as the “loss”- the give and take. Sacrifice and Receive. One should be ready for both, but in reality , no one can be ready for this type of thing. I wasnt. If not for my faith and focus today , ide be in therapy now and for many years to come.
There was a very real loss of myself I can not ever get back. To intentionally harm another human is not something I am proud of at all. It is a path I no longer walk. I try to help those who have to walk it alone. Back to the subject.
By actin on this idea - my human nature broke. I loss care (compassion) and filter. I myself began to see the world as “garbage” and In my mind I was the trash man. There - torture - is a road , I found , that is hard to decide to travel and much more difficult to function and an even greater hazard to remove ones self from. Eventually - both times- it literally
consumed me. No longer leaving me to an identity of my own.

Hyptheticly - now - I would not harm any human being in any way shape or form - physically - mentally or even spiritually.

The human potential is a wonderful thing. There is always a way. 24 hrs is a long time for a pack of bomb dogs to look. This is 2018 - we have the technical advancements that can no longer make primitive guess work or futile gestures of harm to solve our problems. Thinking - will and CAN make the diffrence 99 percent of the time- it’s how - we win sometimes that makes us different.

Disclaimer
This is my own personal experience and how I see things now. No way shape or form am I putting any one down or even repremending anyone for their choices made or even going long with their views or own ideas. Thank you and may the Force be with yall