Ethical issues surrounding Terrorism
Ethical issues surrounding Terrorism
Introduction
The resolutions with regard to the psychologists role at detainee interrogations indicate that “psychologists may not work in settings where persons are held outside of………the international law…..the U.S constitution………. unless they are working directly for the persons being detained or for an independent party working to protect human rights.” In this text, I identify an ethical issue related to the psychology of terrorism including the various dilemmas as well as complexities of the issue.
The ethical issue
According to Staub, E. (2000), terror should be averted and presented at all costs. But in this aversion attempt, there exists some moral dilemmas. Its inevitable that some innocent people will be hurt in the aversion of terror because over the years, terrorists have used innocent men and women as human shields in their evil designs. The various authorities have a duty to protect the citizens by doing whatever is possible to stifle terrorist activities but the lives of innocent civilians end up in most cases being at stake.
Staub, E. (2003) argues that there is an overall duty of the state to protect its citizenry and with that in mind, I personally think that a terrorist should not be allowed to get away irregardless of the probable collateral damage. When a individuals confirmed to be terrorist operatives are successfully intercepted, all efforts should be undertaken to extract any information they may be having and this information utelized effectively Behnke, S. H. (2006).
Conclusion
It is important to note that though we are not teleological in our thinking where the end justifies the means, it would only be prudent to undertake appropriate measures to ensure that terrorism is averted by ensuring hat those terrorists intercepted avail beneficial information.
References
Behnke, S. H. (2006). Psychological ethics and national security: The position of the American Psychological Association. European Psychologist, 11(2), 153–155
Staub, E. (2000). Preventing genocide: Activating bystanders, helping victims and the creation of caring. Retrieved from http://www.othervoices.org/2.1/staub/preventing.htmon 19th Aug. 2010
Staub, E. (2003). The psychology of good and evil: Why children, adults, and groups help and harm others. New York: Cambridge University Press. American Psychological Association. (2007,September 19)
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