Chicago Cop Who Denied Torture Is Indicted

By TChris, Section Misconduct
Posted on Tue Oct 21, 2008 at 12:38:05 PM EST
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On television and in the movies, when a police detective wants a killer to confess, he whacks the killer upside the head and the killer obliges with a written admission of guilt. In real life, coerced confessions are prohibited by the Constitution. That doesn't stop the occasional officer from using TV tactics to get what he wants.

Jon Burge is a former Chicago police lieutenant whose interrogation tactics (primarily directed toward black suspects) included beatings, electric shocks, and mock Russian roulette. The torture of suspects in which he and his colleagues engaged resulted in civil rights suits against Chicago and a federal investigation.

Burge lied to the federal investigators and he lied to lawyers who questioned him with regard to the civil rights suits, consistently denying any knowledge of, or involvement in, the abuse of suspects. Today an indictment of Burge for perjury and obstruction of justice with regard to those lies was unsealed. Burge was arrested before dawn this morning in his Florida home. [more ...]

Too many prosecutors automatically stand up for the police (after all, they play on the same "team") while remaining willfully ignorant of police misconduct. Credit Patrick Fitzgerald for having the integrity to pursue this prosecution. He understands that people who want to make the criminal justice system work within the confines of the law are all part of the same team.

"There is no place for torture and abuse in a police station," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement. "There is no place for perjury and false statements in federal lawsuits. No person is above the law and no person -- even a suspected murderer -- is beneath its protection."

The widespread use of fabricated and tortured confessions was a key factor in George Ryan's decision to commute the death sentences of Illinois' death row inmates in 2003. Perhaps the indictment of Burge will send a message that real cops can't take the shortcuts that are standard practice for TV cops. Dirty Harry might be fun to watch on the movie screen, but in real life he deserves to lose his badge.

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Chicago Cop Who Denied Torture Is Indicted | 3 comments (3 topical)

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It has always been my belief (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by NYShooter on Tue Oct 21, 2008 at 09:54:36 PM EST

That when we bestow great power upon certain of our fellow citizens: power to detain us, incarcerate us, confiscate our property, threaten us with great emotional and/or physical harm, and permanently degrade our dignity, those people should be held to a standard much greater than an ordinary person. If they are found guilty of violating that power, their punishment should be of a magnitude many times greater than that of violations between equals.
Police officers probably constitute the smallest and least damaging group of these privileged people; their damage is usually one on one. Their punishment should be double that of a regular citizen committing a similar crime. But those whose power casts a much larger net upon a much greater number of people: judges, district attorneys, politicians ("lawmakers,") and some bureaucrats,........life!

Perjury and False Statements (none / 0) (#1)
by eLadinMO on Tue Oct 21, 2008 at 03:52:36 PM EST

Good, he's indicted and will possibly go to trial. Can we safely assume that torture charges are forthcoming, or do we just indict people for lying about their alleged crime?

terrorist? (none / 0) (#2)
by Jlvngstn on Tue Oct 21, 2008 at 06:45:33 PM EST

we have teenagers in gitmo and this guy does not qualify? Tell the people and families whose lives he ruined that he does not represent the epitome of terror.....