The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
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two, and <strong>the</strong> execution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> convicted. 37 From 1648 (<strong>the</strong> first execution <strong>for</strong> witchcraft in New<br />
England) until 1663, witchcraft trials had led to 15 executions: from 1663 to 1688, not a single person<br />
was executed <strong>for</strong> witchcraft. (Hansen, p. 4) <strong>The</strong> Salem trials accused and killed a larger number <strong>of</strong><br />
individuals in a far shorter amount <strong>of</strong> time – estimates <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> accused (whe<strong>the</strong>r brought to<br />
trial or not) vary from a conservative 148 (Boyer and Nissenbaum) to over 200 (Hall). Why did <strong>the</strong><br />
trials in Salem result in so many executions when prior trials had not been characterized by this cycle<br />
<strong>of</strong> denunciation and confession? For if we are to argue that <strong>the</strong> Salem trials were a result <strong>of</strong><br />
maintaining Puritan values in an uncertain world, or ef<strong>for</strong>ts to keep women under social control, or<br />
mass hysteria, <strong>the</strong>n we are confronted with <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong>se earlier episodes <strong>of</strong> witchcraft did not<br />
explode into mass denunciation, Puritan values and gender control notwithstanding.<br />
In fact, <strong>the</strong> trials at Salem resembled not o<strong>the</strong>r outbreaks <strong>of</strong> witchcraft in New England, but <strong>the</strong><br />
great witch trials <strong>of</strong> Scotland, Germany, and Switzerland (Golden). <strong>The</strong> 1500s had seen fears <strong>of</strong><br />
witchcraft reawaken across <strong>the</strong> European continent. While suspected witches were persecuted in many<br />
states, <strong>the</strong> vast concentration appears to have been in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Scotland;<br />
sou<strong>the</strong>rn and Catholic states tended to have far less interest in witchcraft as a threat to social order, and<br />
consequently <strong>the</strong>re were far fewer executions in countries such as Spain, Portugal and <strong>the</strong> Italian<br />
states. 38 All told, <strong>the</strong> European witch-trials took <strong>the</strong> lives <strong>of</strong> at least 50,000 souls. (Golden, p. 413) It is<br />
important to note that torture was an integral part <strong>of</strong> this process, and that this emphasis on <strong>for</strong>ced<br />
confessions derived from <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Roman Law in <strong>the</strong>se areas. Under this framework, capital<br />
crimes could be punishable by death only where <strong>the</strong> authorities had one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> two following pro<strong>of</strong>s:<br />
two eye-witnesses, or a confession from <strong>the</strong> accused. That witchcraft involved evil acts committed<br />
through <strong>the</strong> intercession <strong>of</strong> invisible devils meant that <strong>the</strong> witnesses were rarely found – instead, in<br />
witchcraft as in o<strong>the</strong>r capital crimes, <strong>the</strong> authorities made frequent recourse to judicial torture as a<br />
means <strong>of</strong> generating <strong>the</strong> necessary confessions. (Langbein 1978) <strong>Torture</strong> was used not simply as a<br />
means <strong>of</strong> generating confessions, but critically to discover accomplices: witchcraft was understood not<br />
37 Witchcraft in New England was not a religious crime, punishable by <strong>the</strong> Church, but ra<strong>the</strong>r a secular crime against God<br />
and <strong>the</strong> King, punishable by execution. To be a witch was to be a rebel against all authority – and so a traitor to <strong>the</strong><br />
crown whose authority depended on divine sanction. Consequently, those confessing to witchcraft could not be<br />
reincorporated into <strong>the</strong> community, but would be certain to die, both under <strong>the</strong> 1641 Massachusetts Body <strong>of</strong> Liberties,<br />
and under English Crown law after <strong>the</strong> revocation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> that charter in 1684. (Roach, p.xxiii; Boyer & Nissenbaum, p.<br />
6)<br />
38 An interesting exception to this general rule is Poland: witches were persecuted in large numbers, and persecuted later<br />
than in <strong>the</strong> West: whereas <strong>the</strong> fervor <strong>for</strong> killing witches had subsided by <strong>the</strong> 1700s, in Poland <strong>the</strong> activity was reaching<br />
its height at this time.<br />
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