John Yoo, Cesare Beccaria. Torture.

Editor,

John Yoo seems to find justification for his war crimes in his ignorance of Cesare Beccaria's "Essay on Crimes and Justice," written in 1764, which asserts regarding torture:

"A man cannot be called guilty before sentence has been passed on him by a judge, nor can society deprive him of its protection till it has been decided that he has broken the condition on which it was granted. What, then, is the right but one of mere might by which a judge is empowered to inflict punishment on a prisoner whilst his guilt or innocence is still undetermined? The following dilemma is no new one: either the crime is certain or uncertain; if certain, no other punishment is suitable for it than that affixed to it by law; and torture is useless, for the same reason that the criminal's confession is useless. If it is uncertain, it is wrong to torture an innocent person, such as the law adjudges him to be, whose crimes are not yet proved."