July 1st, 2010
Update on the Burge trial, Police torture scandal, and The Illinois Coalition Against Torture
With the recent conviction of former Chicago Police commander Jon Burge for perjury, Voices for Creative Nonviolence is excited to see some progress towards justice in the Chicago police torture scandal. Starting in the 1970s and continuing into the 1990s, Jon Burge and officers under his command allegedly tortured and extracted coerced confessions from more than 100 victims, almost all of them black men from Chicago’s South and West sides.
In July of 2006, the United Nations Committee Against Torture recommended that the government: “promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate all allegations of acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by law-enforcement personnel and bring perpetrators to justice…” It was not until Burge’s 2008 indictment that any formal charges were filed in the police torture cases.
With the statute of limitations being expired for relevant crimes relating directly to torture, Jon Burge was convicted on Monday of federal perjury and obstruction of justice charges for lying about the torture and now faces a possible 45 years in federal prison.
Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a member of the newly formed Illinois Coalition Against Torture, has supported groups such as Black People Against Police Torture, The People’s Law office, The Campaign Against the Death Penalty and individuals and families as they organized to seek justice for the police torture victims. The conviction of Jon Burge is a major victory in a long struggle, but more steps remain to secure justice for torture victims. These steps include:
• The full investigation and prosecution of others in positions of authority (including but not limited to the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office and the Chicago Mayor’s office) who had knowledge of police torture but interfered in or prevented investigations and prosecutions of those responsible from taking place.
• Payment of reparations to victims of police torture and their families; including providing for the full health and mental care needed to recover from the trauma of being tortured.
• New trials for the remaining Chicago Police torture victims who were convicted of crimes based on coerced confessions and remain incarcerated in the State of Illinois.
• Implementation of legislation that explicitly prohibits the crime of torture as defined by Article I of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment and maintain no statute of limitations for the crime of torture.
Read an Associated Press account of the trial
Check out coverage of the trial on Democracy Now
Read about Voices’ previous participation in the campaign against police torture in Chicago:
April 6, 2009- 6 Years Without Justice
January 11th, 2008- Witness Against Torture in Chicago
Read more news and perspectives on torture from Voices, including updates about Witness Against Torture— The Campaign to Close Down Guantanamo and End Torture.
Check out the Illinois Coalition Against Torture
