Ethics in Psychology: Interrogations & APA

• Ethics in Psychology covers interrogations and the APA.
• A video titled "Survivor" is available on the provided URL.

1864: Geneva Conventions

• Common Article Three bars torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.
• This article also includes outrages against the human dignity of prisoners of war (POWs).

Defining Torture

• Torture includes acts inflicting severe physical or mental pain or suffering intentionally.
• The purpose of torture is to obtain information or a confession.
• Torture aims to punish someone for an act, intimidate, coerce, or discriminate for any reason.

2001: 9/11

• In response to the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government and the APA took action.

2002: Government & APA Responses

• On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and attacked the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and crashed a fourth plane in Pennsylvania.
• The American Psychological Association (APA) called upon the psychology community to work toward ending terrorism in all its forms.

Guantanamo Bay

• There is a video about Guantanamo Bay available on the provided URL.

2005: APA Task Force Report

• The APA Task Force Report on Psychological Ethics and National Security includes a resolution against torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
• Psychologists are prohibited from participating in abusive behaviors and must report these activities.
• There are no circumstances that justify torture, says the report.

2006: APA's New Stance

• Mock execution, water-boarding, simulated drowning or suffocation, sexual humiliation, rape, cultural or religious humiliation, exploitation of phobias or psychopathology, induced hypothermia, and the use of psychotropic drugs or mind-altering substances are prohibited for eliciting information.
• Hooding, forced nakedness, stress positions, using dogs to threaten or intimidate, physical assault (slapping/shaking), exposure to extreme heat or cold, threats of harm or death, and isolation/sleep deprivation that represents considerable pain or suffering are not allowed.

Legal or Illegal Interrogation Tactics

• Waterboarding is illegal.
• Stress positions are legal.
• Threats of harm or death are illegal.
• Religious humiliation is a kind of legal issue
• The use of mind-altering substances is illegal.
• Psychologists can serve in consultative roles in interrogation and information-gathering for national security purposes.

2007: President Bush

• On July 20, 2007, President Bush signed EO 13440
• This repealed the Geneva Conventions’ protections for Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners.

2008: APA Letter to President Bush

• Psychologists have a limited role in certain unlawful detention settings.
• These roles including working directly for the detained or for an independent third party protecting human rights, and providing treatment to military personnel.

2009: Senate Intelligence Committee Report

• The Senate Intelligence Committee Report focused on the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program and its torture on detainees between 2001-2006.
• It took 5 years and $40 million to compile.
• Only 525 of the 6,000 pages were released to the public in 2014.

2014: The Hoffman Report

• The goals were to do a "definitive" and "thorough" investigation into allegations.
• Investigation was done into all relevant evidence and to report findings.
• This included whether APA officials colluded with DoD, CIA, or other government officials "to support torture" and to go "wherever the evidence leads" to be completely independent.
• The President authorized the CIA to engage in "enhanced interrogation techniques" in the months following 9/11.
• Torture was defined as equivalent to a "serious physical injury such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death", or psychological harm that lasted for months or years

Findings of the 2014 Hoffman Report

• The APA colluded with DoD to have loose ethical guidelines.
• They curried favor with the DoD to create a good public relations response and unrestrained growth.
• APA officials likely turned a blind eye to EITs.
• There was an important conflict of interest where an APA personnel member was married to one of the military’s lead psychologists who supported EITs at Guantanamo Bay.

2015: Lawsuit Filed

• Two psychologists who designed and helped oversee the CIA's harsh interrogation faced a lawsuit filed on behalf of three former CIA prisoners who were allegedly tortured at "black sites."
• The lawsuit accused Mitchell and Jessen of human rights violations for committing torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, and war crimes.
• James Mitchell stated that he went through ethical obligations, and helping to save American lives was the least worst choice.