A new website created by Boalt Hall School of Law students and faculty at U. California-Berkeley has spurred a debate over the role of psychologists in the interrogation of detainees at U.S. prisons overseas.
The website titled, “Do No Harm? Intelligence Ethics, Health Professionals, and the Torture Debate,” examines psychologists’ role in enhanced interrogation techniques utilized at detention centers, including Guantanamo Bay.
The site – a collaboration between the International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Center for Justice and Accountability at the school, as well as UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center – has been in the works since January and features audio interviews with expert psychologists regarding the history of the techniques, the impact of psychological torture upon detainees and the relationship between the American Psychological Association and the military.
“The site was designed to provide important background information so that the public and journalists have the information to make an informed decision about accountability, because there is a lot of information in the public record,” said Boalt professor Laurel Fletcher, and director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic.
Fletcher said using this information, the public will know enough about the impact of the techniques to engage in debates about the appropriate role of psychologists and to understand that health professionals have violated professional ethics and need to be held accountable.
According to a student paper on the website, Dr. Bruce Jessen, a military psychologist, adapted training methods for use by interrogators on detainees at Guantanamo – including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, isolation, stress positions, exposure to extreme temperatures and emotional disturbance.
“The website challenges the notion that accountability is a thing only for prosecutors,” Fletcher said.
Health professionals have been as equally involved as military officials in the torture of detainees because they should have a medical understanding of torture methods, she added.
“We were trying to point out that this isn’t the first time this has happened – psychologists have been complicit in torture, they do have a role in torture practices, and psychological torture is just as harming as physical torture,” Fletcher said. “The reason that the APA has not been outspoken can be explained by the relationship between their organization and the U.S. military.”
Fletcher said the website provides enough information for readers to be able to ask whether this has been investigated and if people have been investigated for criminal culpability.
“Psychologists have stepped over the ethical line,” said San Francisco psychologist Jeffrey Kaye. “Effectiveness can psychologically break down human beings between brutal and degrading techniques, and now they have become an effective device for torture.”