Between Medicine and Honor

The Legal Ban on Torture in the Ottoman Empire, 1840–1858

Bibliographic Data

ID6157302
AuthorsIbrahim Halil Kalkan (corresponding author), İbrahim Halil Kalkan İbrahim Halil Kalkan
Year2017
Volume4
Issue1
Pages31-31
Publication date2017-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2376-0702 • E-ISSN: 2376-0699
PublisherIndiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2979/jottturstuass.4.1.03
OpenAlexW2612136669
LanguageEN
References cited11

Although it is an extremely critical topic to comprehend the nature of political power, the practice of torture remains relatively neglected in Ottoman history. This article studies the systematic and consistent official policy to legally ban the practice of torture as a form of punishment and method of criminal investigation in the mid-nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. By examining why Ottoman reformers set about to legally ban the practice of torture, this article also explores the emergence of a radically new official Ottoman conception of political power and justice. This new conception envisaged a mechanical functioning of the state and its treatment of all Ottoman subjects equally. Furthermore, this article also illustrates the relationship between the legal ban on torture and an essential change in producing legal evidence. It highlights, therefore, that the new conception of political power and justice became practicable in the criminal justice system significantly through the development of forensic medicine during the mid-nineteenth century

Criminology · Economic Justice · Honor · Human rights · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Punishment (psychology · Sociology · Torture · Historical and Scientific Studies · Law · Legal and cultural studies analysis · Psychology · Torture, Ethics, and Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub