APA Bans Interrogations

From the newsletter of the International Association of Correctional & Forensic Psychologists newsletter


I can't provide a link because the article is in a Members Only area of the IACFP website

APA BANS INTERROGATIONS

THE CORRECTIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST, January 2009

The American Psychological
Association (APA) voted to ban
its members from taking part in
interrogations at the prison at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other
military detention sites where it
believes international law is being
violated. The ban means that APA
members can’t assist the U.S.
military at the sites. Members can
work at these sites for humanitarian
purposes or with non-governmental
groups, according to Stephen Soldz,
a Boston psychologist. Doctor Soldz
is founder of an ethics coalition that
has long supported the ban. The
new policy should take effect at the
APA annual meeting in August 2009.
There is talk from the new Obama
administration, however, that closing
Guantanemo may occur before the
APA’s August meeting.

I guess.

Its not like the a state bar where membership is required to practice

The military was desperate to keep them after every other kind of medical professional group had bailed.

Do you know the story of the fake position paper and the stacked panel, JR?

I do know that a lot of people quit APA over the past several years when they were unwilling to take a stand against psychologists' participation in "harsh interrogation methods." Personally, I quit them several years ago when their dues got ridiculously high for what I thought I was getting from them, so I can't say I dropped out on ethical grounds, which I would have.

At some point after the AMA and the psychiatrists' org dropped out, the APA convened a special panel to produce a position paper on interrogations. The requisite number of people were invited to participate.

When they got there, they were told that they couldn't take notes of the session. They were given a draft of a paper and told to discuss it.

They didn't know that the panel was stacked with Pentagon reps and didn't find out until later. This whole exercise was meant to produce a position paper written by the Pentagon.

Here's the link to Amy's report:

APA Interrogation Task Force Member Dr. Jean Maria Arrigo Exposes Group’s Ties to Military

Dr. Jean Maria Arrigo was one of three civilian members of an APA task force that concluded psychologists were playing a “valuable and ethical role” in assisting the military. It was later revealed that that six of nine voting members were from the military and intelligence agencies with direct connections to interrogations at Guantanamo and elsewhere. At this weekend’s annual convention Dr. Arrigo exposed the inner workings of the group in an extraordinary speech.

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/8/20/apa_interrogation_task_force_member_dr