January 12, 2008

The Honorable Mark Ridley-Thomas, Chair

Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee

Room 2053, State Capitol

Sacramento , CA   95814

Dear Senator Ridley-Thomas:

On behalf of Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR), I write to urge the State of California to notify all state-licensed psychologists and other state-licensed health professionals about their legal and professional responsibilities to not participate in, cooperate with, or fail to report torture and other abusive treatment of prisoners and detainees in U.S. custody. About 120 of our 640 members are residents of California .

PsySR also recommends that the relevant state agencies notify all California-licensed health professionals – including psychologists – that health professionals who participate in torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment may be subject to prosecution. We further urge the State of California to officially request that the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency remove all California-licensed health professionals – including psychologists – from involvement in prisoner and detainee interrogation.

Press reports and official documents have highlighted the disturbing roles of health professionals, especially psychologists, in the abusive interrogations that have taken place at Guantánamo, in Iraq and Afghanistan , and at the CIA’s so-called “black sites.” We fear that psychologists are still playing roles in the implementation of abusive and illegal techniques, given the President’s recent reauthorization of certain of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques.

Further, we are deeply disturbed that psychologists practice and support interrogations in sites that operate outside the protections offered by the Geneva Conventions and other international human rights instruments, such as the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). The illegal, indefinite detention of people at these sites itself constitutes a violation of international law and human rights standards. Psychologists’ operational activities at these sites only legitimate these human rights violations. Consequently, the State of California should act immediately to fully inform state-licensed psychologists and other health professionals about their legal and ethical responsibilities and also to protect them from being placed in such compromising circumstances.

Dr. Jean Maria Arrigo, a key member of our Action Committee to End Torture and Other Abuses of Psychology, will be testifying about this urgent public policy issue at the January 14^th, 2008 hearing of your committee.

Psychologists for Social Responsibility is a 25-year-old non-profit organization dedicated to promoting peace and justice through the application of psychological knowledge, insights, and skills. Our membership of  640 psychologists, students, and others includes about 120 residents of California . Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.

President, Psychologists for Social Responsibility

Additional signers, all psychologists residing in California :

Hilde Burton, Ph.D., Berkeley , CA .

Joan H. Cole, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., Oakland , CA

Paul Kimmel , Ph.D., PsySR Steering Committee, Los Angeles , CA

Jancis Long, Ph.D., President-Elect, PsySR, Berkeley , CA

Linden L. Nelson, Ph.D., PsySR Steering Committee, San Luis Obispo , CA

Gilbert Reyes, Ph.D., PsySR Steering Committee, Santa Barbara , CA

Marc Pilisuk, Ph.D., PsySR Steering Committee, Berkeley , CA

Judith Van Hoorn , Ph.D., PsySR Steering Committee, Kensington , CA

Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph.D., Former President of the American Psychological Association*

                                 and Member, PsySR Advisory Board, San Francisco , CA

*Organization listed for identification purposes only