ABSTRACT
Radiology has an important and specific role to play in the documentation of physical injuries that may be caused by torture, ill-treatment, and other violence during arrest and while in detention. Torture and ill-treatment are usually committed in a clandestine fashion and using increasingly sophisticated methods with a deliberate attempt to reduce any physical evidence of its practice. Mistreatment and torture of others are instruments to torment prisoners. This chapter highlights the uses and the limitations of diagnostic imaging. Physical ill-treatment may include any part or parts of the body, including hand and arm, foot and leg, torso, genitalia, and head and neck. Ill-treatment involving the head can produce a spectrum of injuries from contusions, to lacerations, to hemorrages, to skull fractures and, in some cases, may be fatal injuries. The differential diagnosis for torture and ill-treatment includes common trauma and other pathologies.
