Tortured Logic: Why Some Americans Support the Use of Torture in Counterterrorism

In this video, University of Alabama Assistant Professor Dr. Erin M. Kearns and American University Professor Dr. Joseph K. Young will provide a virtual talk on their new book Tortured Logic: Why Some Americans Support the Use of Torture in Counterterrorism. In Tortured Logic, Erin M. Kearns and Joseph K. Young draw upon a novel series of group experiments to understand how and why the average citizen might come to support the use of torture tech­niques. They find evidence that when torture is depicted as effective in the media, people are more likely to approve of it. Bringing empirical rigor to a fraught topic, Tortured Logic has important implications for understanding public perceptions of counterterrorism strategy. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of START, the University of Maryland or the United States government.