Torture report prompts APA apology

Abstract

Admitting it colluded with U.S., psychologists group to change policies, leadership.After years of denying that it had given scientific and ethical legitimacy to torture by the U.S. government, the American Psychological Association (APA) last week accepted the finding of an external investigation that concluded it had done just that. The 542-page report from a former Chicago inspector general, David Hoffman, pulls no punches, concluding that APA officials colluded with the U.S. government to enable the torture of detainees. Now, with a public apology and wave of forced retirements, APA is struggling to craft an institutional response that will satisfy its members and longtime detractors, even as some of those pilloried in the probe defend themselves and their colleagues.