2010-02-05T00:51:57Z 2010-02-05T00:51:57Z 2010-02-05T00:51:57Z

<p>Why <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/02/why_some_regimes_sign_convention_then_torture_anyway" title="Torture and authoritarian governments: The costly-signaling theory of torture | The Economist">show trials always have ludicrous charges against the defendants</a> in totalitarian states:</p> <blockquote> <p>[F]orcing someone to admit to something he might have done does not send a strong signal of power. Forcing someone to confess to a crime that everyone knows he could not possibly have committed, on the other hand, is terrifying.</p> </blockquote> http://blog.lordsutch.com/archives/4322 http://blog.lordsutch.com/atom.cgi/entryid=4322