TORTURE

Torture does not reliably get people to confess to crimes or provide accurate information. Instead, it most often causes a person to agree to anything or lie to escape the extreme pain and distress, making any information obtained highly unreliable and frequently false. 

Key reasons why torture is ineffective and counterproductive:

Desire to stop the pain: The primary goal of a person being tortured is to make the suffering stop. They will say whatever they think their interrogator wants to hear, whether it's true or not, to achieve this end.

False confessions: Innocent people under extreme duress are highly likely to confess to crimes they did not commit. In some studies, a significant percentage of people who were actually innocent gave false confessions when subjected to pressure.

Impaired cognitive function: Extreme fear, stress, and physical injury can severely impact a person's memory and cognitive abilities, making it difficult for them to recall crucial details accurately or distinguish fact from fantasy.

False leads: Even if a person is guilty, they may provide false or misleading information under torture to waste their interrogators' time and resources, which can hinder investigations.

Psychological effects: Torture can lead to long-lasting psychological trauma, including PTSD, and can make victims more compliant and suggestible in the long term, further compromising the reliability of any future information.

Scientific and expert consensus: Most interrogation experts, psychologists, and intelligence professionals agree that non-coercive, rapport-building interrogation methods are far more effective for obtaining accurate and reliable intelligence. 

Historically, forced confessions were often accepted, but by the late 18th century, most scholars and lawyers recognized that they were not only morally wrong but also ineffective at revealing the truth. Modern legal systems widely exclude evidence obtained through torture.