Summary
The necessity and appropriateness of the powers provided to governments via such legislation as the Patriot Act in the United States and the Anti-Terrorism Act in Canada, for example - power to override or temporarily suspend certain rights that have long been considered fundamental features of modern liberal democracies - have been the focus of passionate debate among politicians, civil rights advocates, academics, and members of the general public. Through an examination of laws and judicial decisions, Dayan documents the ways in which the terms "cruel" and "unusual" have been manipulated, (re)defined so as to not merely undermine whatever degree of protection they might have afforded individuals against abusive treatment, but also to dehumanize those subject to such treatment and thereby allow those responsible to proclaim the legal and moral legitimacy of their actions.
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Extract
The Story of Cruel and Unusual
The Story of Cruel and Unusual by Colin Dayan. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. (100 pages; cloth)
Many of the actions (ostensibly) undertaken on behalf of the post-9/11 "war on terror" have generated both significant concern a...See the full content of this document
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