Japanese Torture During Wolrd War II - Term Paper Example

JAPANESE TORTURE DURING WORLD WAR II 0 Introduction As a way of uncovering truth about criminal and civil acts that take place in society, law enforcers are often given the right to use what is legally accepted as minimum force on suspected criminals and other people from whom vital information can be sought. Once this is done, we say there is being torturing of the person (quote). Some events, particularly in the World War II have led to concerns about distinguishing between acts of crime, knowing that some acts on suspects could turn out to be more than ordinary torture. Out of this, interrogational and terroristic torture has been defined. Quote (year) have explained interrogational torture as a form of law enforcement practice that permits law efforts to use minimally accepted level of force on suspects with the aim of questioning them for vital information for decision making in the criminal justice system. Terroristic torture on the other hand has been defined to be a form of force and pressure that is applied on a person with the sore reason of taking advantage of information that the person may have (quote). Terroristic torture is thus forceful, unfair and often aims at destruction of one person to the advantage of the other. This research paper aims to collect both primary and secondary data from various literatures about the World War 2 in relation to torture that was applied on various Japanese, including civilians, enlisted soldiers and officers. The objectives built out of this overall aim of the research paper are given as follows; 1. To differentiate between interrogative torture and terroristic torture in relation to different torture methods used during the war. 2. To identify the types of people that were tortured and how each of them suffered consequently. 3. To define the reasons that fuelled the torturing of people, particularly torture that may be considered as unacceptable 4. To establish whether the torturing that took place was merely for the reason of seeking legal information or whether there were terroristic reasons attached. As an academic research paper, it is expected that the paper will be completed with several significant advantages achieved. Particularly, gaps in existing literature will be bridged using both primary and secondary evidence from literature that focus on the war. The gaps have existed because most forms of literature have been written apart from each other without bringing the facts together to know how each of them affects the other. It is this vacuum that the research paper will eventually fill. 2.0 Research Method The research was conducted as a qualitative research paper that made use of both primary and secondary data collection methods. As a qualitative research paper, the researcher made use of no numeric indices in the collection and analysis of data. Rather, there was the exclusive use of literature review, where the researcher reviewed various works of literature that covered the research objectives. One of the first approaches to data collection was to develop four major themes for data collection. The themes were developed directly from the research objectives by ensuring that each objective was modified into a theme. After this, inclusion and exclusion criteria were set for the collection of sources that related and reflected the various themes that were set. For each theme, there was a minimum of 3 major sources that were used. The research was conducted in a much exploratory manner where the researcher sought to critically analyse each of the points that were held by the various authors of the sources. This means that the sources were not necessarily compared to each other to establish any sequence of facts. The findings that came out of the data collection have been analysed extensively below. 3.0 Key Findings 3.1 Torture methods used by the Japanese during World War II Looking through literature, there were two main forms of torture methods that were used with one dominating the other. Quote (year) noted that the Japanese specialised in the interrogation of suspected criminals and people who had information by the use of either physical torture or psychological torture. Quote (year) also discovered that of the two methods, the commonly used was physical torture. The physical torture as a method of torture took many different forms and format including beating, custom designed devices, sleep deprivation, restraint, use of heat and cold, exposure to excessive noise and light, among others. This was noted to be the most preferred by most warlords and law enforcers within the Japanese rank, given the fact that they were believed to produce the fastest form of responses (quote). In terms of psychological torture, people were subjected to torture and atrocities that did not harm them physically but emotionally and psychologically (quote). This form of torture was not very common by the Japanese given the fact that they felt their effects were not immediate. There were some who also considered the outcome of psychological torture to be too mild for the results that were being sought from the tortures. In either case however, quote (year) observed that there were instances when acceptable limits of minimal force were exceeded. In relation to the motive behind the torture also, quote (year) concluded that the torture were more terroristic than legislative. 3.2 Types of people that were tortured The Japanese torture is known to have taken place primarily at the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the World War II. From this premise, quote (year) gathered primary evidence that showed that the worse sufferers of the tortures were other people in other Asian countries and people who were on the side of nations considered to be enemies of Japan and on the side of opponents of Japan. Mainly though, there are further primary evidence that suggest that the worst offenders were prisoners held in Japanese prisons. These prisoners included people from several countries, particularly China, United States of America and Australians (quote). The torture on these prisoners was so bad that there were times that Japanese officers were competing among themselves as to which of them could kill or harm the most number of captured allied people. There were also enlisted soldiers and officers that suffered various forms of torture and atrocities. For most of these enlisted soldiers and officers, the attacks on them was for the reason of collecting information that the Japanese believed if they had access to, would help them win the war. What was peculiar of the people that were tortured was that they were not tortured only on Japanese soil (quote). This is because there is primary evidence that justify the fact that people belonging to other factions were tortured in other countries considered to be friends of Japan. A typical example of this country is New Guinea. 3.3 The reasoning for the torture 3.4 The torture as acts of terrorism 4.0 Summary and Conclusion This research paper has been focusing on the analysis of various acts of torture that were meted out to Japanese during the World War II. The research was conducted around four major themes, each of which has established very important points. In the first place, it has been deduced that there were two major forms of torture used and applied on the Japanese. These are lawful torture and unlawful torture. The lawful torture was particularly executed through the use of interrogative torture. There were however the use of interrogative torture, which was inhumane and aimed at destruction and taking advantage of one side during the war. It has also been established that almost every type of Japanese suffered the unlawful torture, particularly prisoners and soldiers who were only serving the interest of their nation. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the World War II was an avenue for some people to take undue advantage of others to engage in unlawful acts, using the premise of lawful concepts. The lawful concept was the idea of torturing. Even though this is an internationally permissible act, it was done in an unacceptable premise and this premise was the premise of terrorising the people involved. Works Cited Bayly, C.A. & Harper T. Forgotten Armies. The Fall of British Asia 1941-5 (London: Allen Lane) 2004 Bass, Gary Jonathan. Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Trials. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. Felton, Mark (2007). Slaughter at Sea: The Story of Japans Naval War Crimes. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. Harries, Meirion; Susie Harries (1994). Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. New York: Random House. Harris, Sheldon H. Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932–45 and the American Cover-Up, Routledge, 1994. Rees, Laurence. Horror in the East, published 2001 by the British Broadcasting Company Seagrave, Sterling & Peggy. Gold warriors: Americas secret recovery of Yamashitas gold, Verso Books, 2003. Williams, Peter. Unit 731: Japans Secret Biological Warfare in World War II, Free Press, 1989. Yamamoto, Masahiro (2000). Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity. Praeger Publishers. Read More