Abstract
Most recent research on legal establishment of torture through informal institu- tions has concentrated on its appearance as a national policy. What has not been as extensively examined, however: is the use of torture, again justified by informal in- stitutions, to domestic law enforcement agencies. This paper will present a beginning study of this phenomena. I will suggest a model for how informal institutions allowing the appearance of torture can become established and an hypothesis derived from it. I will then use process tracing to analyze the development of torture within the Chicago Police Department and a counterfactual case, the absence of tortuous interrogations in the Boston Police Department. Together, these cases provide a preliminary test of the model. I will conclude with a discussion of what has been learned and some speculations on how the use of torture by domestic law enforcement agencies might be prevented.
