Question

Summary of DIRTY HARRY CLIP
In the Dirty Harry clip, Harry tortures the guy by shooting him in the leg to obtain information on where the girl was.  Cop Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) attempts to track down a psychopathic rooftop killer before a kidnapped girl dies. When he is found Harry abuses the murderer's civil rights putting him back on the streets. Once he is released he hijacks a school bus and Harry must go after him again. The only way to stop this vicious killer is in cold blood.

NOW ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AGREEING HOW ITS NOT OKAY TO TORTURE TO AQUIRE INFORMATION OR CONFESSIONS

Given a life or death situation (as in Dirty Harry),
-Explain why its not justified for police officers to use torture or other means to obtain information from a suspect to save a life?
-When would it be acceptable and when would it not be acceptable?
-Or, should officers never use any means necessary to obtain a confession and always follow the law and protect the Constitutional rights of an accused?

Answer 1

Police officer cannot torture even a convict if law does not permits it. Many nation have framed their law on basis of "innocent until proven guilty". Even if anyone is accused , there are chances that he might get free by being innocent so punishing him before is unjust.

However to obtain info of crime one can use moderate degree of threat and physical punishment but that should not count to torture. Torture is gross violation of human rights.

It would be acceptable only when it is used within a lpermissible limit set by law and info required is essential for saving life of others or avoiding a larger accident attack. It is not acceptable if it breaches the permissible limit and used randomly.

One should always follow the constitution and law and for unforeseen circumstances law has provision to go beyond general rules but that too has its limit. So one should adhere to limits prescribe by law and constitution