J. Gordon Melton - Amicus Curiae

Amicus Curiae

For more details on this topic, see APA taskforce on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control.

Melton, together with a group of scholars and the American Psychological Association, submitted on February 10, 1987 an amicus curiæ brief in a pending case before the California Supreme Court related to the Unification Church. The brief stated that hypotheses of brainwashing and coercive persuasion were uninformed speculations based on skewed data. The brief characterized the theory of brainwashing as not scientifically proven and advanced the position that "this commitment to advancing the appropriate use of psychological testimony in the courts carries with it the concomitant duty to be vigilant against those who would use purportedly expert testimony lacking scientific and methodological rigor."