When encouraged by figures of authority and seeking peer acceptance, individuals may cross the line, starting with reluctant or peripheral participation in ill-treatment such as minor acts of abuse, slaps, later progressing to levels of extreme torture. Research also shows that perceiving particular victims, or groups of victims, as subhuman or contemptible helps individuals to justify and accept the use of torture. Situational pressures can also cause torturers to loose moral inhibitions. Finally, torture can become institutionalised. There are, of course, always those individuals who dissent and alert authorities to abuse. 12