Chicago agrees to pay $5.5m to victims of police torture in 1970s and 80s

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Chicago approved an unprecedented deal on Wednesday to compensate victims tortured in police custody in the 1970s and 80s under the regime of a notorious former police commander, in an attempt to close a dark chapter in the city’s history.

A historic package of reparations will be paid out to living survivors, in the first gesture of its kind in America.

Chicago city council voted to award a total of $5.5m to help survivors, almost all African American men, who were mistreated in a long episode of police brutality that ran throughout the 70s and 80s under Jon Burge.

The funds will be used to pay up to $100,000 per individual for living survivors with valid claims to have been tortured in police custody during Burge’s command.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/06/chicago-police-torture-victims-deal

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Zach Stafford in Chicago and Joanna Walters in New York
Wednesday 6 May 2015 17.00 BST

[closeupready]

1. Which is more scandalous - the torture, or the parsimonious award?

And some say it's in the Middle East where life is cheap.

[frazzled]

2. Many millions of dollars were awarded to individual victims previously

For instance, four inmates who were pardoned by then-Governor Ryan and were able to prove torture, received a court award of 19.8 million among them. Altogether, the city has paid over $100 million to victims.

This is for those who did not come forward over the intervening years; the statute of limitations on Burge's crimes are expired. So this is a chance for all those who didn't come forward earlier or who didn't win anything in court to make a new claim. More important, it has been called "reparations," not an award or a payoff. No city has ever done this, and it was roundly applauded by Amnesty International. It is, in Joe Biden's words, a big effen' deal.

The city already has paid about $100 million in lawsuit settlements to Burge victims. The $5.5 million fund will provide up to $100,000 to each of those victims with credible torture claims who have not received settlements. It will also provide them with education, psychological counseling and job training.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/05/06/404545064/chicago-set-to-create-reparation-fund-for-victims-of-police-torture

[closeupready]

4. Ok, was not aware of that. I hope it helped assuage the pain

and suffering which the City of Chicago dealt out to these individuals.

[cstanleytech]

3. 5.5 million? It should be 5.5 billion.

[christx30]

5. Agreed:

And I'd like to see the money come out of the pensions of the police first, and the police budget next.

[cstanleytech]

6. I just do not feel that is right.

After all the odds are that most of the people drawing on the pension are innocent so its hardly fair to punish them and I feel the same about a company raiding the pension fund for its employees to pay for a mistake someone in the company makes that causes the company to be sued.
In this case the money could be raised by selling long term bonds plus the insurance for the city should cover at least some of it.

[christx30]

7. I just want the average cop

to have something to lose from the bad actors in their departments. The "good" cops be less inclined to protect the bad ones. There is almost no accountability when the department will circle the wagons to protect the bad guys.

[cstanleytech]

8. Thats like saying though that the average teacher should be punished because

another decided to have sex with a student whos underage when what needs to happen is the teacher who had sex with the student is the one that needs to be punished.

[christx30]

9. If underage sex with sudents was a systemic

problem, and the teachers covered for each other. And if most people would scoff at the idea of actually prosecuting a teacher for the crime.

[cstanleytech]

10. Except there isn't any proof that the average everyday teacher or

police officer is engaged in covering up for their colleague's even though there are plenty of stories across the nation of both teachers and police officers committing crimes.