In a recent PBS documentary last aired on December 14th 2015 name The Viability of Intelligence it is state that less than a third of all information gained from torture has been has turned into a reliable intelligence tip. The second and less well-known definition of torture given to us by Webster's Dictionary is something that causes great mental suffering or stress. This definition describes the second yet equally as dangerous form of torture, psychological Torture. Ways of inflicting psychological torture are just as numerous as the physical aspect however most of the time psychological inflections cause more lasting effects on a person and cause a higher quality of response from the person being tormented. Types of psychological torture include but are not limited to hooding, sleep and sensory deprivation and stress positioning.
Now that we understand the meaning and different types of torture we will peel back the layers of the history of torture. According to The History of Torture and Execution by Jean Kellaway, the origin of medieval torture can be traced all the way back to 530 AD when the Roman jurists would torture those accused to get to "the highest form of truth". In the 12th Century, Roman Law was revived by officials in Italy and France, to become a source of authority in civil law systems. In criminal proceedings, the accusatorial process was replaced with a structure of prosecution, which required the testimony of two witnesses or the confession of the accused as 'proof' for a conviction. In this way, interrogation and torture to extract such confessions became enshrined in the civil law system. In the 18th Century, the Enlightenment and the relaxation of civil law rules of evidence led to the evaporation of torture provisions in European legal codes. In 1764, the work of Cesare Beccaria, author of On Crimes and Punishments, became so influential as to lead to the banning of judicial torture in criminal proceedings Europe.