Ever since the photographs of prisoners at Abu Ghraib being abused by American service personnel emerged into public view, the U.S. has been embroiled in a hot debate over the use of torture, and whether it can ever be justified. Strangely, although all available research indicates that torture doesn’t actually work if the goal is to extract information, many Americans seem to believe that it can be a highly effective method of interrogation, and furthermore, that it is somehow morally justifiable if lives might be saved. Where are we getting these ideas? Probably from every cop drama, spy film, horror flick, and suspense movie released in the last 40 or so years.