> I've heard many times that "torture doesn't work" but I never understood how or why
Imagine you're suspected of a crime or terrorist act, but you are innocent.
Your captors however are sure of your guilt and determined to find out what you know by torture.
The more you insist you know nothing and that you are innocent, they more they believe you are resistant to their torture methods and so they keep upping the ante.
Eventually you will reach a breaking point where you can't go on, and you will start making up stories and saying anything just to get them to stop.
And that's why torture doesn't work, because you can't trust the information that you gain from it.
Imagine you're suspected of a crime or terrorist act, but you are innocent.
Your captors however are sure of your guilt and determined to find out what you know by torture.
The more you insist you know nothing and that you are innocent, they more they believe you are resistant to their torture methods and so they keep upping the ante.
Eventually you will reach a breaking point where you can't go on, and you will start making up stories and saying anything just to get them to stop.
And that's why torture doesn't work, because you can't trust the information that you gain from it.