History Main / EnhancedInterrogationTechniques

* In Patrick Robinson's ''USS Seawolf'', [[ChineseWithChopperSupport PLA soldiers]] resort to, among other things, beating TheCaptain and waterboarding his [[NumberTwo executive officer]] [[spoiler:(who happens to be the President's son)]] to elicit info on the titular submarine.

* In ''[[Literature/KnownSpace A Gift From Earth]]'', by Creator/LarryNiven, the authorities don't use physical torture because it would ruin the suspect's use to the body banks. Instead, they use sensory deprivation.

* WillSmith's character in ''Film/WildWildWest'' uses the DramaticGunCock to force an impostor to reveal himself. The scene is played for laughs. To be fair, it's a dude ''impersonating the president'' who has failed to answer several direct questions about who he is.

This is done because TortureAlwaysWorks, but it would be [[MoralDissonance unbecoming]] for our heroes to get their hands dirty with a JackBauerInterrogationTechnique. So instead, they use alternative techniques, usually psychological. They make death threats, point around loaded guns, and use things like sleep deprivation. Beatings may or may not apply depending on [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown how they're depicted]]. The most common, though, are probably the DramaticGunCock and HighAltitudeInterrogation.

* It's a recurring point in ''Series/BurnNotice'' that physical torture doesn't work. The show mentions, and even sometimes uses, "non-violent" methods that ''do'' break someone such as prolonged isolation, being subjected to loud noise for long periods of time, sleep deprivation, etc. In the end most of those methods take too long, so Michael and company devise clever ways to make a target either trust them or become completely terrified of them, usually without ever laying a hand on the subject. (For example, in one case Sam breaks a con artist by cutting ''himself'' open, dripping the blood all over the con artist, all while talking about what he'll do to the guy. It completely freaks the con artist out.)

''Films/TheForceAwakens'': One of Kylo Ren's signature abilities involves using the Force to invade his victims' minds. He uses it in two separate interrogations.

* The focal point of the ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode ''Harm''.

* ''{{Homeland}}'' has an interrogation scene after the prisoner has been deprived of sleep from sporadic DeathMetal blasts.

* It's a recurring ;point in ''Series/BurnNotice'' that physical torture doesn't work. The show mentions, and even sometimes uses, "non-violent" methods that ''do'' break someone such as prolonged isolation, being subjected to loud noise for long periods of time, sleep deprivation, etc. In the end most of those methods take too long, so Michael and company devise clever ways to make a target either trust them or become completely terrified of them, usually without ever laying a hand on the subject. (For example, in one case Sam breaks a con artist by cutting ''himself'' open, dripping the blood all over the con artist, all while talking about what he'll do to the guy. It completely freaks the con artist out.)

* In ''ThePowerpuffGirls'', the people of Townsville get [[TheCollector Lenny Baxter]] [[InterrogationByVandalism to reveal where he has the girls by causing him to faint from the sight of kids removing the packaging from his collectibles.]]

* Inverted in ''{{Metalocalypse}}'' with a scene of a teenage Dethklok fan being forced to listen to Dethklok's music at obscenely high volume as punishment for pirating the track on the internet; he suffers severe psychological damage and becomes a villain shortly afterward, and the torture scene isn't treated as anything but a torture scene. (Of course, for Metalocalypse, it's really par for the course.)

* The new ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]'' likes this one, particularly the episode "Taking a Break From All Your Worries," including a particularly memorable scene involving the ever-present threat of airlocking.

* In ''JusticeLeague'' (with a crossover with ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'') the elderly Bruce Wayne pulls the captive Ghoul away from Batman (his younger self), who had been dangling the villain over the side of a building. "I can't believe I was ever that green," he scoffs. "''This'' is how you interrogate someone." Wayne hefts his cane and advances toward Ghoul. One fade-to-black later, the villain has confessed not only to the organization and capabilities of the Jokerz, but to being a bed-wetter until he was fourteen.

Named for the euphemism used by both the U.S. Government for forms of torture that don't leave marks or cause organ failure, and for ''Verschärfte Vernehmung'', [[GodwinsLaw which is what the Nazis called it when they did it and which translates to the same]]. Compare JackBauerInterrogationTechnique, TortureAlwaysWorks. See also WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouTalk, MaximumFunChamber.

-->'''Hill:''' Don't you watch the news? Waterboarding's not torture. It's an advance interrogation technique.

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Harvey captures Thomas Schiff, one of the Honor Guard the Joker hired to help kill the Mayor, after seeing him wearing a name plate that reads Rachel Dawes. He takes Schiff to an alley, ties him to a chair, shoots a gun into a nearby dumpster to prove he isn't joking, and flips a coin. Tails, and Schiff would die if Schiff didn't start talking. [[spoiler:Subverted. The coin was double-headed.]]

** Partially justified as this was just after [[spoiler:Gordon had been murdered]] and so Batman was out to cause pain just as much as he was to get information, as exemplified by his ruthless backhanding of a half dozen {{Mooks}} in the previous scene.
*** Also, as Maroni pointed out, he was a professional. Batman uses threats to get information when he can, but threats aren't enough against everyone. In this case, he had to prove that his threats were ''not empty.''
** Still an improvement to the Creator/TimBurton version, who had no aversion to casually murdering random {{Mooks}}.
** Film/TheDarkKnightSaga is also notable for deconstructing TortureAlwaysWorks. Batman uses torture twice in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the first time the guy tells him every thing he knows, but only because he wants Batman to know anyway. [[spoiler: The second time the Joker tells him where Dent and Rachel are being held, but switches the addresses and again only because he actually wants Batman to know anyway.]]

* A chilling, implied example happens in ''{{VideoGame/Homeworld}}'' after the "Return to Kharak" mission. During that mission, the crew of the Mothership witness the aftermath of genocide committed on their people and capture one of the enemy's rear-guard ships to question the crew on who and why had made it happen.
--> '''The Tactical Advisor''': The subject... [[DeadlyEuphemism did not survive the interrogation]].

* In the ''BurnNotice'' episode "do no harm", Michael Westen comments on how torture doesn't work - then throws someone out a window to convince someone else to talk. (The thrown one is caught by a wire attached to the chair to which he's tied.)
** Michael ''frequently'' comments on how physical torture doesn't work. The show mentions, and even sometimes uses long term methods that ''do'' break someone such as prolonged isolation, being subjected to loud noise for long periods of time, sleep deprivation, etc. In the end most of those methods take too long, so Michael and company devise clever ways to make a target either trust them or become completely terrified of them, usually without ever laying a hand on the subject. (For example, in one case Sam breaks a con artist by cutting ''himself'' open, dripping the blood all over the con artist, all while talking about what he'll do to the guy. It completely freaks the con artist out.)

'''Sam''': Lucky guess. You get to live. ''Now tell me something useful or we'll play another round.''

** Still an improvement to the TimBurton version, who had no aversion to casually murdering random {{Mooks}}.

* In ''JusticeLeague'' (with a crossover with ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'') the elderly Bruce Wayne pulls the captive Ghoul away from Batman (his younger self), who had been dangling the villain over the side of a building. "I can't believe I was ever that green," he scoffs. "''This'' is how you interrogate a suspect." Wayne hefts his cane and advances toward Ghoul. One fade-to-black later, the villain has confessed not only to the organization and capabilities of the Jokerz, but to being a bed-wetter until he was fourteen.

* In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', like the original, allows you to interrogate captured aliens. Unlike the original, the "interrogated" aliens don't survive the process. One of the characters later comments that he's shocked that [[BewareTheNiceOnes the seemingly-benign Dr. Vahlen would go to these lengths]] (though everyone admits that, ghoulish and inhumane though the methods may be, they are necessary in the face of possible extinction).