Sign up ×  How prevalent was torture by the regular police force
and the army in 19th and early 20th century in the US and
Western Europe? When it was practiced, are there documented
instances of it being effective?  share|improve this question
You need to precisely define "Torture" for it to be answerable.
What some people today call "torture" would be called "light
hazing" 100 years ago. OTOH, I'm sure making a person from 1880
listen to 24 hours of Schnitke would make them confess to
anything. –  DVK Jan 12 '12 at 2:23 Apart from me, no one is up
or down voting. How .... odd. –  Sardathrion Jan 13 '12 at 7:40
2 Answers 2  up vote 3 down vote accepted  You didn't define
"torture" so it's very hard to answer.  One example would be
Wickersham Commission report in 1931. While its main focus was
avoidance of Prohibition and the latter effect on society, it
also produced an infamous critique of the use of violent
interrogation.  A lot of examples from early 1900's are listed
in "Above the Law: Police and the Ex