Before discussing the history of police torture in Chicago, it is first important to discuss the history of the lack of value for the lives and well-being of people of color in the United States. According to Chowdhry and Beeman, during the era of slavery, Blacks in the United States were forced to work long hours doing hard labor and were subject to beating or even death if they did not follow the orders of slave owners. After, the Emancipation Proclamation, Blacks were forced to follow laws which only applied to Black people in the US and if they were not followed they would be charged and most often receive the punishment of hard labor these were known as Black Codes (Chowdhry and Beeman, 2007). While Blacks were no longer enslaved, there
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According to Dale, the earliest record of police torture in Chicago is in the 1870’s. Reports from the early 1870’s to roughly 1900’s reveals that suspects were tortured to attempt to elicit suspects to commit to crimes. Most commonly, torture victims reported being placed in sweatboxes, rooms where suspects would face extreme heat. The practice of torture did face opposition but little was done. Most opposition focused on private detective agencies rather than the Chicago police Department (CPD). The first substantial attempt to try to end police torture in the city was in 1907 when the Illinois General Assembly proposed a bill, which would end the use of sweatboxes as well as criminalize the act of using force or threats to obtain information. This was an unsuccessful attempt as the Illinois senate failed to pass this bill. Beginning in 1910, outside groups other than CPD began to look into reports of police torture. At a national level, subcommittees in the senate examined issues of torture in federal agencies and banned the use of torture. This ban only affected federal agencies, and therefore had no impact of practices within CPD. At a local level, trial judges sought to stop the practice of police torture however, this effort was largely unsuccessful in the city of Chicago, as many victims were afraid to press charges against police officers (Dale, …show more content…
According to Ralph, Jon Burge was a police detective and later police commander in Chicago who began to work for the department in 1970. Jon Burge was a head of a group of White detectives, which called themselves the “midnight crew”. Jon Burge along with other police offices tortured at least one hundred and twenty Black males on the south and west sides of Chicago. During this era, the midnight crew tortured individuals to coerce confessions by administering shocks, using violent racial slurs, and suffocation to give examples of the harm inflicted. For a great deal of time victims of torture inflicted by the midnight, crew went unheard because they were ignored by CPD. The torture by the midnight crew caught attention from both national and international organizations. This ultimately resulted in the trial of Jon Burge and others involved in torturing suspects of crimes, and the result was a settlement for some of those who accused him of crimes. Later in 2010, Jon Burge faced criminal charges and was convicted to four years in prison. (Ralph,
According to Dale, the earliest record of police torture in Chicago is in the 1870’s. Reports from the early 1870’s to roughly 1900’s reveals that suspects were tortured to attempt to elicit suspects to commit to crimes. Most commonly, torture victims reported being placed in sweatboxes, rooms where suspects would face extreme heat. The practice of torture did face opposition but little was done. Most opposition focused on private detective agencies rather than the Chicago police Department (CPD). The first substantial attempt to try to end police torture in the city was in 1907 when the Illinois General Assembly proposed a bill, which would end the use of sweatboxes as well as criminalize the act of using force or threats to obtain information. This was an unsuccessful attempt as the Illinois senate failed to pass this bill. Beginning in 1910, outside groups other than CPD began to look into reports of police torture. At a national level, subcommittees in the senate examined issues of torture in federal agencies and banned the use of torture. This ban only affected federal agencies, and therefore had no impact of practices within CPD. At a local level, trial judges sought to stop the practice of police torture however, this effort was largely unsuccessful in the city of Chicago, as many victims were afraid to press charges against police officers (Dale, …show more content…
According to Ralph, Jon Burge was a police detective and later police commander in Chicago who began to work for the department in 1970. Jon Burge was a head of a group of White detectives, which called themselves the “midnight crew”. Jon Burge along with other police offices tortured at least one hundred and twenty Black males on the south and west sides of Chicago. During this era, the midnight crew tortured individuals to coerce confessions by administering shocks, using violent racial slurs, and suffocation to give examples of the harm inflicted. For a great deal of time victims of torture inflicted by the midnight, crew went unheard because they were ignored by CPD. The torture by the midnight crew caught attention from both national and international organizations. This ultimately resulted in the trial of Jon Burge and others involved in torturing suspects of crimes, and the result was a settlement for some of those who accused him of crimes. Later in 2010, Jon Burge faced criminal charges and was convicted to four years in prison. (Ralph,