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Chicago Police Torture Deemed Too Old to Act On

By David Schaper

Published July 19, 2006 at 3:00 PM CDT

Members of the Chicago police routinely tortured suspects, predominantly black men, during the 1970s and '80s, special prosecutors say in a new report -- but the crimes are too old to file charges on.

The report follows a four-year investigation into claims that former Lt. Jon Burge or detectives under his command tortured as many as 150 people. Some victims say they were suffocated with typewriter cases, beaten, and shocked with electric devices.

Some of the people interviewed for the report claim that torture led them to confess to crimes they didn't commit. Despite Burge being fired in 1993 for abusing a suspect, none of the alleged torturers has ever been criminally charged. NPR's David Schaper reports.

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David Schaper

David Schaper is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, based in Chicago, primarily covering transportation and infrastructure, as well as breaking news in Chicago and the Midwest.

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