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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possibility would be to question <strong>the</strong> wisdom <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> judges <strong>the</strong>mselves. A case in point is Cotton<br />
Ma<strong>the</strong>r: a supporter <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trials, he was none<strong>the</strong>less concerned by <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> spectral testimony which<br />
might allow <strong>the</strong> Devil to deceive in order to bring innocent blood onto <strong>the</strong> hands <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> authorities. In<br />
his letter to John Foster (a member <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Governor's council), Ma<strong>the</strong>r argued: “I am suspicious that <strong>the</strong><br />
Devil may at some time or o<strong>the</strong>r serve us a trick by his constancy <strong>for</strong> a long while in one way <strong>of</strong><br />
dealing. We may find <strong>the</strong> Devil using one constant course in nineteen several actions, and yet he be too<br />
hard <strong>for</strong> us at last, if we <strong>the</strong>nce make a rule to <strong>for</strong>m an infallible judgment <strong>of</strong> a twentieth. It is our<br />
singular happiness that we are blessed with judges who are aware <strong>of</strong> this danger.” (Hansen, p. 142)<br />
Whatever might be our judgment <strong>of</strong> Boston's elites, we cannot argue that <strong>the</strong>y were unconcerned with<br />
<strong>the</strong> possibility <strong>of</strong> false accusations.<br />
Once <strong>the</strong> trials were underway, ano<strong>the</strong>r perverse incentive (intimately related) was to arise. If<br />
<strong>the</strong> trials were going <strong>of</strong>f <strong>the</strong> rails, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> judges would all have been guilty <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> murder <strong>of</strong> innocent<br />
people, and <strong>of</strong> helping <strong>the</strong> Devil to assault <strong>the</strong> community <strong>the</strong>y were trying to protect. And if this were<br />
so, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> elites would be de facto incapable <strong>of</strong> leadership – <strong>the</strong>ir judgment called into question, and<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir souls imperiled. While chief judge and Lt. Governor William Stoughton would go to his grave<br />
believing that those executed had been guilty as charged, o<strong>the</strong>r judges began to lose faith in <strong>the</strong><br />
proceedings as more and more confessors began to recant, including N. Saltonstall and S. Sewall. Even<br />
Ma<strong>the</strong>r himself, who had been keenly aware <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dangerous undercurrent to <strong>the</strong> proceedings,<br />
none<strong>the</strong>less refused to believe that <strong>the</strong> crisis was imaginary: something had to have been going on,<br />
something diabolical, and even <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trials and <strong>the</strong> public proclamation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> innocence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
accused was not enough to deter him from his belief that so many good and cautious men could have<br />
been so disastrously wrong. Without a counter-narrative that allowed <strong>the</strong> judges to reinterpret <strong>the</strong><br />
evidence without implicating <strong>the</strong>m <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir fatal gullibility, <strong>the</strong> elites in charge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trials could not<br />
extricate <strong>the</strong>mselves from <strong>the</strong> proceedings very easily. As noted above, those who did so (Bradstreet,<br />
Saltonstall) soon found <strong>the</strong>mselves targeted by <strong>the</strong> afflicted. 61 For <strong>the</strong> elites to recognize that <strong>the</strong><br />
afflicted were lying would mean to have been guilty <strong>of</strong> falling victims to <strong>the</strong> machinations <strong>of</strong><br />
prepubescent girls.<br />
This counter-narrative would not arrive until October with Increase Ma<strong>the</strong>r's Cases <strong>of</strong><br />
61 Saltonstall had resigned from <strong>the</strong> court around <strong>the</strong> time that <strong>the</strong> first condemned – Bridget Bishop – was executed. “As<br />
<strong>the</strong> months passed, he would remain “very dissatisfied with <strong>the</strong> proceedings.” <strong>The</strong> afflicted, moreover, would soon<br />
report seeing his specter.” (Roach, p. 166)<br />
64