The prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm in public international lawmeaning that it is forbidden under all circumstancesas well as being forbidden by international treaties such as the United Nations Convention Against Torture . It is generally agreed that torture is inherently morally wrong because all forms of torture "involve the intentional infliction of extreme physical suffering on some non-consenting and defenceless person", although it does not necessarily follow that torture is wrong in all circumstances. In practice, torture has been employed by many or most prisons, police and intelligence agencies throughout the world. Philosophers are divided on whether torture is forbidden under all circumstances or whether it may be justified in one-off situations, but without legalization or institutionalization. Premise The basic ethical debate is often presented as a matter of deontological versus utilitarian viewpoint. A utilitarian thinker may believe, when the overall outcome of lives saved due to torture are positive, torture can be justified; the intended outcome of an action is held as the primary factor in determining its merit or morality. If the outcome of torture resulted in an increase in utility, then a utilitarian would be able to justify that action of torture. They look only at whatever maximizes utility, rather than what seems to be right or wrong, based on our own judgements. The opposite view is the deontological, from the Greek word deon (duty), which proposes general rules and values that are to be respected regardless of outcome. Deontological reasoning, unlike utilitarianism, does not focus solely on the consequences that follow from an action. Instead, this moral theory focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions independently. It has been suggested that one of the reasons torture endures is that torture indeed works in some instances to extract information/confession if those who are being tortured are indeed guilty. Richard Posner, a highly influential judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, argued that "If torture is the only means of obtaining the information necessary to prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Times Square, torture should be usedand will be usedto obtain the information. ... No one who doubts that this is the case should be in a position of responsibility." However, some experienced intelligence officers have more recently come forward claiming that not only does torture not work, it can result in false information since people undergoing