Editing Deprogramming (section)

{{Short description|Coercive intervention against a person's beliefs}}
'''Deprogramming''' is a controversial tactic that seeks to dissuade someone from "strongly held convictions"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of DEPROGRAM |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deprogram |access-date=2022-09-17 |website=www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref> such as religious beliefs. Deprogramming purports to assist a person who holds a particular belief system—of a kind considered harmful by those initiating the deprogramming—to change those beliefs and sever connections to the group associated with them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |title=New Religious Movements |date=1999 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-415-20049-0 |edition= |location=New York |page=218}}</ref><ref>[[Anson D. Shupe|Shupe, Anson]] (2005). ''Encyclopedia of religion'', edited by Lindsay Jones, 2291–3. Vol. 4. 2nd ed. [[Macmillan Reference]], USA.</ref><ref name=":0">Neal, Lynn S. (2012). "Deprogramming". ''Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies in the United States''. Edited by [[Bill J. Leonard]] and [[Jill Y. Crainshaw]]. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Denver, CO: [[ABC-Clio|ABC-CLIO]].</ref> Typically, people identifying themselves as deprogrammers are hired by a person's relatives, often parents of adult children. The subject of the deprogramming is usually forced to undergo the procedure, which might last days or weeks, against their will.

Methods and practices of deprogramming are varied but have often involved [[kidnapping]] and [[false imprisonment]],<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |date=December 1981 |title=Notes: Cults, Deprogrammers, and the Necessity Defense |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1288050 |journal=[[Michigan Law Review]] |volume=80 |issue=2 |pages=271–311 |doi=10.2307/1288050 |jstor=1288050 }}</ref> which have sometimes resulted in criminal convictions.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{cite journal |author1=Hunter, Howard O. |author2=Price, Polly J. |year=2001 |title=Regulation of religious proselytism in the United States |url=https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/lawreview/vol2001/iss2/6/ |journal=[[Brigham Young University Law Review]] |volume=2001 |issue=2}}</ref><ref name="nyt-08301980">{{cite news|title=Ted Patrick Convicted of Seizing Woman Said to Have Joined Cult; Escaped From Abductors|date=August 30, 1980|work=[[The New York Times]]|url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30C15FE385410728DDDA90B94D0405B8084F1D3}}</ref> The practice has led to controversies over [[freedom of religion]], [[civil rights]], [[criminality]], and the use of violence.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ikemoto |first1=Keiko |last2=Nakamura |first2=Masakazu |year=2004 |title=Forced deprogramming from a religion and mental health: A case report of PTSD |journal=[[International Journal of Law and Psychiatry]] |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=147–155 |doi=10.1016/j.ijlp.2004.01.005 |pmid=15063639}}</ref> Proponents of deprogramming present the practice as a necessary counter-measure to the systematic "brainwashing" procedures allegedly employed by religious groups, which they claim deprive the individual of their capacity for free choice.