In light of the ongoing revelations about the U.S. abuse of Iraqi and Afghani prisoners, we thought we'd let you know:

Law Professor Celia Rumann has just published a timely article on the Founding Fathers’ prohibition on extreme interrogation. Tortured History: Finding Our Way Back to the Lost Origins of the Eighth Amendment, 31 Pepperdine L. Rev. 661 (2004) traces the history of the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause to such documents as Massachusetts’ “Body of Liberties” (1641), English Bill of Rights of 1689, and Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765) as the Founders’ original check on forcing confessions through torture and “bodilie punishments.”

Prof. Rumann also argues that the Fifth Amendment’s Self-Incrimination Clause is not rendered redundant by this theory, but was intentionally added as a check on admission into evidence of forced confessions, whatever the compulsion.

Pepperdine Law Review does not offer articles on-line but you can order by sending an e-mail to lawreview@law.pepperdine.edu. You can also access it at Lexis.com, for a fee.