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Torture

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Forensic Medicine

Abstract

Evaluating violence against individuals and identifying evidence of violence on individuals form a traditional part of forensic medicine. However, surprisingly, forensic diagnosis is seen primarily as the assessment of specific cases (homicide, manslaughter, child abuse, etc.) on behalf of the organs of state authority bodies (police, state prosecutor’s office, and courts). Even more surprising still is the fact that, particularly when viewed internationally, the basic task of forensic medicine is apparently to determine facts to the detriment of victims of violence committed by precisely those agents (police, soldiers, secret services, plant security forces, self-appointed militias, private security agents, as well as other official entities) who (claim to) represent the state, possibly in the knowledge of, in the presence of, or with the support of physicians.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Gießen, Gießen, Germany

    Reinhard B. Dettmeyer, Marcel A. Verhoff & Harald F. Schütz

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  1. Reinhard B. Dettmeyer
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  2. Marcel A. Verhoff
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  3. Harald F. Schütz
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Dettmeyer, R.B., Verhoff, M.A., Schütz, H.F. (2014). Torture. In: Forensic Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38818-7_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38818-7_26

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