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Excerpts from the Ervin study on the federal role in behavior modification

Allen L. Barker alb at datafilter.com
Thu Sep 5 08:22:17 EST 2002



Extracts from _Individual Rights and the Federal Role in Behavior 
Modification_, 1974


                  A Study Prepared by The Staff of the 
               Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the 
             Committee On The Judiciary, United States Senate
                Ninety-Third Congress, Second Session 

                Subcommittee Chair, Senator Sam Ervin, Jr. 

http://www.heart7.net/mcf/mla/bad-behavior.htm


Page 353
http://www.heart7.net/mcf/mla/p353.html


Conclusion

This brief memorandum concludes by placing the Violence Center in the
perspective of other voices heard around the country as to the
"answer" to violence.  A Santa Monica psychosurgeon has spontaneously
offered to do brain operations on California prisoners, especially
young aggressive males.  Dr. Ralph K.  Schwitzgebel, a colleague of
Dr. Sweet, and Dr. Robert L.  Schwitzgebel of the Claremont Graduate
School in California have just published a book, _Psychotechnology:
Electronic Control of Mind and Behavior_, in which they describe the
present and potential use of brain implants and radio telemetry to
monitor human emotions, location, and behavior, and to control
behavior in various fields, including law enforcement.  Dr. Barton
Ingraham and Dr. Gerald W. Smith, both recent recipients of
Ph.D. degrees from the School of Criminology, University of
California, Berkeley, recently advocated the permanent implantation of
radio receiver-transmitters in the brains of parolees (_Issues in
Criminology_, Fall, 1972).  They envision the automatic monitoring of
parolees by a computer which, if it detected a *probability* of
misbehavior by the parolee, would cause him to abandon his activities
by delivering and electrical shock to his brain and/or by calling the
police to his radio-monitored location.  A number of prototypes of
such devices have been tested under field conditions, and the
Schwitzgebel brothers have designed methods to insure that the wearer
of the device cannot remove or disarm it.

A recent report, not yet fully confirmed, discloses a program in
California to computerize files on "pre-delinquent" children so that
early behavior problems can be filed and the individuals who exhibit
these tendencies can be checked for the rest of their lives.  The
computer files of these primary-grade children are prepared without
the consent of their parents and are tied into the files of law
enforcement agencies.

This is a grim picture indeed.  We ask that U.C.L.A. not become a
place where politicians obtain the techniques for scientific
pacification of our population.  As taxpayers we ask that money only
be spent on carefully drafted proplsals with at least a possibility of
reducing the level of unhealthy violence in our society and that a
blank check not be given to pursue research on methods of repression.
As concerned citizens we ask that strict adherence be paid to the
legal rights and guarantees of freedom which serve as a cornerstone of
out nation.  And finally, as human beings we ask for the preservation
of our dignity.


--------

See also the sections on
Electronics for Behavior Control and Observation
http://www.heart7.net/mcf/mla/Section17.html



--
MC:TT&P ==> http://www.datafilter.com/mc
Allen Barker



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