I've often looked at historical accounts of physical cruelty and wondered, "How can a human being do that to another"? when it involved such things as burning, castrating, etc. We are all created in the image of God, and he explicitly leaves judgment up to Him. I have heard it argued, however, that in cases of physical torture that results in homicide where there is an abundance of proof, that a "tooth for a tooth" would be the only deterent.