Providing psychological expertise to US Senate hearing on policing

APA submitted a letter (PDF, 145KB) and testimony (PDF, 191KB) on June 16 in response to a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing calling for reforms to our nation’s policing policies and practices. In both documents, APA CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, cited psychological research on restorative justice and voiced support for measures aimed towards decreasing racial bias in policing. Additionally, APA called for the establishment of a Science Advisory Board at the Department of Justice to improve the applicability of research on policing. APA Member Phillip Abita Goff, PhD, CEO and founder of the Center for Policing Equity, also testified at the hearing. The hearing corresponds to the recent legislative developments of the introduction of the JUSTICE Act in the Senate and the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 in the both chambers.