POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST CHICAGOS YOUTH OF COLOR

A report prepared for the United Nations Committee Against Torture

on the occasion of its review of


The United States of Americas Third Periodic Report to the
Committee Against Torture







September 2014
WE
CHARGE
GENOCIDE


1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

We Charge Genocide (WCG) is a grassroots, inter-generational, volunteer effort to center
the voices and experiences of the young people most targeted by police and most
impacted by police violence in Chicago. The name We Charge Genocide comes from a
petition submitted by the Civil Rights Congress to the United Nations in 1951, which
documented 153 racial killings and other human rights abuses, mostly by the police. Today,
police violence continues to afflict communities of color throughout the United States.

Instances of police violence reveal the underlying relationship between marginalized
communities and the state. This is a relationship of unequal access to power and
resourcesa relationship where violence is used by the police to silence, isolate, control,
and repress low-income people and young people of color in particular.

This report calls to the attention of the UN Committee Against Torture (Committee) the
ongoing and pervasive violations of the Convention Against Torture (Convention)
committed by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) against young people of color.
Specifically, we focus on the CPDs acts (and failures to act) that violate Articles 2 and 10
to 14 of the Convention. At base, the CPDs conduct constitutes torture and cruel, inhuman,
or degrading treatment (CIDT) as defined by the Convention, and occurs at extraordinary
rates, disproportionately against minorities, and with impunity.

Contrary to Articles 12, 13, and 14 of the Convention, and in disregard of the Committees
requests in its May 2006
1
and January 2010
2
list of issues submitted to the U.S., the CPD
has yet to institute sufficient systems for preventing, documenting, reviewing, investigating,
and providing redress and compensation for police violence against youth in Chicago.
Even so, youth testimony, along with the very limited information that is available,
demonstrates the disproportionate and systemic patterns of state violence against
Chicagos youth of color.

To facilitate youth testimony (for this report and beyond), WCG built on the work of the
many Chicago groups addressing police violence and developed centralized avenues for
youth to document their experiences with police violence in Chicago. Those avenues
include: (1) a youth hearing held in August 2014, during which young people shared their
experiences of the CPD in public and private testimonies; and (2) a Police Encounter
Line (PEL), which allows youth to confidentially report their negative experiences with
the police via phone, an online form, or a paper form.
3
The youth testimonies described
and quoted in this report reflect some of the many voices that are not represented in the
U.S. governments current report to the Committee.

Ultimately, this report calls on the Committee to: (1) identify the CPDs treatment of young
people of color as torture and CIDT as defined by the Convention; (2) request and demand
a response from the CPD regarding the steps it will take both to end this treatment and to
fully compensate the individuals, families, and communities impacted by this violence; and
(3) recommend that the U.S. Department of Justice open a pattern and practice
investigation into the CPDs treatment of youth of color and seek the entry of a consent
decree that requires the CPD to document, investigate and punish acts of torture and CIDT,
and implement other necessary reforms.


2
CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE: THE NUMBERS






































3
CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST YOUTH OF COLOR: OVERVIEW

Young people of color in communities across Chicago are consistently profiled, targeted,
harassed, and subjected to excessive force by the (predominantly White) CPDleaving
far too many physically injured, killed, and emotionally scarred.
4
The following sections
summarize and quote from the testimonies of youth who have experienced and witnessed,
among other things, the CPDs persistent surveillance and harassment; abusive and
unwarranted searches; use of excessive force, including beatings and killings; and sexual
assaults. These testimonies and the available data expose the disturbing and intolerable
truth that CPD officers regularly engage in torture and CIDT as defined by the Convention.

The following sections, thus, show that the CPD has violated and continues to violate
Articles 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the Convention.

CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE: HARASSMENT AND ABUSE
In its past and current reports to the Committee, the U.S. government has acknowledged
the Committees allegations that racial bias and discrimination against minorities were at
play in instances of police harassment and abuse.
5
Youth testimonies and available data
reveal the depth and breadth of the problem in Chicagoa problem that includes the
CPDs continued and ongoing pattern of routine, invasive, and degrading harassment of
young people of color. Youth reportwith alarming regularityinstances of intimidation,
involuntary and abusive searches, theft of property, and verbal abuse by the CPD.

At WCGs youth hearing, a young Black man described his encounter, as a 15-year-old,
with the excessively militarized CPD
6
:









This scene is far too familiar in Chicago (and in communities of color across the U.S.). At
WCGs youth hearing, another young Black man testified that three CPD officers dragged
him out of a youth center and harassed him for several minutes, despite pleas by the
centers workers to leave him alone. He concluded:




These are not isolated incidents. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois confirmed
with CPD data that Chicagos law enforcement frequently subjects civilians to sidewalk
stops with no lawful justification.
7
CPD officers perpetuate this abuse without fear of
consequence: Between 2002 and 2004, Chicago residents filed 3,837 illegal search
complaints. Only 0.03% of these complaints were sustained and only one resulted in a
meaningful penalty (defined as a suspension of a week or more).
8
This confirmation of
stop-and-search abuse is especially powerful in light of the CPDs fundamentally
inadequate documentation protocol.

We're s|tt|ng |n a house p|ay|ng v|deo games and we hear a bang|ng on the door. 8efore we know |t,
the door |s k|cked down and there's f|ve spec|a|-ops off|cers w|th the|r huge M16s drawn, po|nted at
us: 1hree 1S year o|ds p|ay|ng v|deo games. And they te|| us get on the ground. 1hey say |f we move
they are gonna k||| us. "Don't |ook at me, we'|| fuck|ng k||| you |n a second!" o|nt|ng the|r guns at us.
1hen they don't f|nd anyth|ng. 1hey |et us a|| go, they |augh, try to [oke w|th us, apo|og|ze, then |eave
out. And we're s|tt|ng there ||ke, "What [ust happened?" 1hey tear up the house. 1hey sto|e money.
And that's a story that happens too many t|mes. We get stopped, we get harassed,
we get p|cked up for no reason. And that's [ust one story. 1hat's my story.


4
Although Chicago claims to maintain one of the most extensive databases in the U.S.,
9
it
has no systematic process in place to track the instances of police harassment and abuse
that disproportionately impact young people of color. Indeed, Chicago fails to collect key
information necessary to monitor and prevent racial profiling and harassment. For example,
the Contact Cards systemwhich the CPD claims to use to track all contacts with
civiliansdoes not have fields that explicitly state whether a person was stopped
involuntarily and/or frisked. This leaves no avenue for the CPD or community members to
determine how many people are stopped and/or frisked absent arrest and the alleged
justifications for such detentions and searches. Thus, there is no department-level
monitoring of such practices to determine whether they are being illegally used on a wide-
scale basis, which the anecdotal information strongly suggests and the existing data
appears to demonstrate.

As noted by the Committee in previous reviews, the absence of a federal nationwide data
collection system limits all efforts to effectively monitor police misconduct, detect trends
and patterns, or take action to prevent further violations. Similarly, by not mandating the
documentation of involuntary stops or searches of persons, Chicago (which has the
second largest police force in the U.S.) fails to satisfy the most basic level required for
systemic review of police misconduct. This issue illustrates that the CPD has flatly failed to
comply with the standard for systemic review set forth in Article 11 of the Convention.


In addition to the inadequate mechanisms and support that exist for Chicago residents to
report police misconduct, the impunity of police harassment discourages many people
from making official complaints. Based on their experiences, they fear retaliation; do not
believe the authorities will respond meaningfully, if at all; or expect that their accounts will
not be believed. A young Black woman recalled her experience of trying to interrupt police
harassment in a PEL report:






The prevalence of harassment, involuntary searches, and verbal abuse are not the result
of unusual transgressions by select, individual CPD officers. Rather, they are illustrative of
institutional racial bias and systemic endorsement of targeting and harassment of young
people of color. The following testimony, which was provided by a 23-year-old Black man
at WCGs youth hearing, is but one persons articulation of a far-reaching sentiment:










This cruel and degrading treatment of Chicagos youth of color serves to silence,
traumatize, and control entire communities. It creates a climate where youth of color feel
unsafe and learn that they always are suspects and that their lives are not valued in the
eyes of the state.
I was wa|k|ng down the b|ock of my house, and I saw the po||ce harass|ng someone I went to
schoo| w|th. I approached them and asked what was go|ng on. 1he po||ce to|d me, "M|nd your
bus|ness, b|tch, and go home"...I d|dn't te|| anyone because I be||eved noth|ng wou|d come about.
I'm affected great|y by po||ce bruta||ty. D|rect|y and |nd|rect|y...Lven see|ng other human be|ngs be|ng
harassed by po||ce, I st||| fee| v|o|ated cus |t's v|o|ent. It's not acceptab|e at a||. It's a tota| d|sregard for peop|e's
va|ue...the way po||ce carry themse|ves and the way they ta|k to peop|e, |s d|sgust|ng. It's horr|b|e. It's v|o|ent.
It's a f|ex|ng of author|ty. 1hey ||ke oppress|ng peop|e and |t seems ||ke that's the who|e |ntent|on. 1o ||ke take
peop|e's power away from them. A |ot of t|mes I fee| ||ke my power |s be|ng taken away.


5
CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE: USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE

Chicagos youth of color are regularly subjected to the CPDs use of excessive force,
which causes severe physical and emotional injuries, and in some cases, death. At WCGs
youth hearing, many youth of color shared their experiences and fears with the CPDs
racial profiling and related violence. Youth have described in vivid detail the toll this
constant police harassment and violence take on their personal well-being and that of their
communities. One young Latino man shared the following:












Another young persona 22-year-old Black manexplained how CPD officers physically
assaulted him, causing permanent bodily injury that will impact the rest of his life.


















This use of excessive force is endemic to the CPDit implicates hundreds of officers and
leads to thousands of violations every year. In 2011 and 2012, 8,452 allegations and
notifications of police misconduct were reported to the Independent Police Review
Authority (IPRA) of the CPD. Primary themes of the formal complaints made to the IPRA
were excessive force, verbal abuse, and shootings. However, of the 8,452 complaints, only
105 were sustained, while 828 were dismissed due to the inability to secure a witness
affidavit.
10
Taking into account the many victims and witnesses who fear retaliation and/or
lack the legal and/or financial support necessary to successfully pursue such complaints
against the police, it is clear that the numbers of both alleged and sustained complaints
represent only a sliver of the actual incidents of the CPDs use of excessive force.

Within the CPD-wide epidemic of excessive force, one specific officer is particularly
emblematic: Officer Glenn Evans was implicated in at least 45 excessive force complaints
between 1988 and 2008more than any other CPD officer during those decades. In spite
of his outrageous record and the IPRA recommendation for his dismissal, he currently
We were [ust wa|k|ng down the street and we get pu||ed over by th|s cop...So then I [ust run and I start
[ump|ng fences and stuff ||ke that and they start chas|ng me...1he squad car pu||s up and I put my
hands on the hood and I'm ||ke, "I g|ve up. I g|ve up." I've been arrested before, I know what they ask,
so I put my hands on the hood. And the guy gets up and he [ust tack|es me to the ground. And then I
was [ust ||ke, "ou got me! ou got me! We're good, we're good!" And he's ||ke, "No, no!" So he keeps
on punch|ng me and k|ck|ng me. And at th|s po|nt he cuffs me and h|s partner, I guess, f|na||y catches
up...and I'm st||| on the ground w|th my hands beh|nd my back and he starts [ust punch|ng me and
k|ck|ng me aga|n. So f|na||y they put me beh|nd the squad car...I'm wonder|ng what they're arrest|ng
me for. And they're ask|ng me, "We||, why d|d you run?" And I was ||ke, "I ran because I've had bad
exper|ences w|th you guys |n the past so, I'm k|nda scared of you guys."
And so |ast year, I f|ame up the b|unt, they h|t the s|rens.I come out, put my hands beh|nd my head
and, "Get on the ground, get on the ground!" Coo|, I get on the ground. Next th|ng I know, I wake up |n
the back of a po||ce stat|on, and I don't even know what happened to me to be honest w|th you, that's
how bad they beat me. I guarantee you. I'm s|tt|ng |n the Cook County Ia||.w|th twenty-two st|tches |n
my tongue, two fac|a| fractures, bru|sed r|bs, scrapes a|| over my body, I st||| can't ta|k r|ght to th|s day.
I can't eat certa|n th|ngs.I had an orb|ta| fracture, a nasa| fracture, ||ke, say that had to st|tch my
tongue back together, I a|most d|dn't have no tongue. L|ke |t was ||tera||y hang|ng on by a thread, I
cou|d fee| |t, ||ke, I cou|d fee| my tongue at my ch|n.ea |t's stuff that I shou|dn't have done but at the
same t|me, I came out w||||ng|y. I came out w|th my hands up, g|v|ng myse|f |n. 1here's no reason to
use force ||ke that.now I can't even go back and f||e reports or sue the po||ce off|cer, get the badge
numbers or noth|ng. L|ke they scarred me outta my who|e ||fe.


6
serves as Commander of District 11.
11
That such an offending officer continues to hold a
powerful position of leadership demonstrates the CPDs flagrant disregard of accountability.

The total number, brutality, and frequency of occurrences of excessive force by the CPD
demonstrate the torturous and unjustifiable nature of the CPDs conduct. The impunity of
CPD officers, who repeatedly brutalize young people of color, directly undermines the U.S.
governments claims to the Committee that such abuses by law enforcement officers are
limited, prohibited, and successfully prosecuted. Neither the U.S. government, nor the
CPD, have adequately responded to the Committees documented concern for allegations
of impunity of some of the State partys law-enforcement personnelin particular the
CPDin respect of acts of torture or [CIDT].
12


Unfortunately, the CPD continues to refuse to acknowledge or respond to its pervasive
misconduct, and Chicagos young people of color continue to suffer the damages of police
violence.

CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE: USE OF DEADLY FORCE

The CPDs use of excessive force leads to the deaths of far too many young people of
color. Moreover, the CPDs use of deadly force is overwhelmingly directed at Black people.
According to the IPRA, Black people are ten times more likely than White people to be
shot by a CPD officer. Further, from 2009 to 2013, although Black people comprised only
32.3% of Chicagos overall population, 75% of police shooting victims were Black.
13

Additionally, in the first six months of 2014, 23 of 27 people shot by the CPD were Black.
14


The CPDs August 24, 2014, killing of Roshad McIntosh, a 19-year old Black man, has
sparked sustained protests in Chicago. In addition to expressing outrage over yet another
police murder of a young person of color, protestors are rallying around Roshads mother
and her repeated demands for the CPD to release the shooting officers name and the
autopsy results.
15
While the CPD maintains that Roshad was armed, community witnesses
consistently report that Roshad was unarmed and surrendering, on his knees with his
hands in the air, when an officer shot and killed him.
16
One Chicago activist reported:









As suggested by the Committee,
17
in 2010, the CPD purchased and armed its officers with
600 Tasers. Although Tasers are intended to prevent the need for deadly force in
escalating situations, shootings by the CPD have not dropped significantly since officers
have put the Tasers to use.
18
Instead, we have only seen the added and disproportionate
use of Tasers against people of color. For instance, between 2009 and 2011, 92% of
Taser uses involved a Black or Latino target, including 49 youth under the age of 16 (with
some as young as 8 years old).
19
The CPDs use of Tasers particularly impacts Black
people. In the first six months of 2014, 146 of the 186 Taser victims were Black (78%).

1hree po||ce cars arr|ved on the scene, and po||ce [umped out of the|r cars w|th guns drawn, and koshad
ran. o||ce chase koshad through an a||ey onto the back porch of a house. Severa| peop|e heard koshad
say, "|ease don't shoot, p|ease don't k||| me, I don't have a gun." eop|e saw h|m w|th h|s hands up when
the po||ce shot koshad S t|mes and k|||ed h|m.[]o||ce sa|d koshad had a gun and had po|nted |t at off|cers
from the second f|oor of the porch. et peop|e who saw |t sa|d he d|d not have a gun, and to|d po||ce he
d|dn't have a gun. Iurthermore, po||ce on|y c|a|med they found a gun 3 hours after k||||ng h|m. When
peop|e gathered to protest afterwards, po||ce were crue|, v|o|ent and threaten|ng.


7
Tasers have not only failed to reduce the use of deadly force, but have actually caused the
deaths of additional young Chicagoans of color. At WCGs youth hearing, a young Black
man read a poem he wrote about the CPDs May 20, 2014, killing of his friend, Damo.
Damo was only 23 years old, and his death has shaken the Chicago youth organizing
community:













In its May 2006 response to the U.S.s report, the Committee specifically drew attention to
police officers ability to kill civilians with impunity.
20
This concern is unchanged. In their
testimonies at WCGs youth hearing and their PEL reports, Chicagos young people
repeatedly complained that the CPD gets away with brutalizing and killing youth of color.
Chicago not only has a pervasive culture of police violence, but it also has an intractable
culture of police impunity and opacity.
21
A very recent and powerful example of this point is
described in the following testimony provided by a member of Roshad McIntoshs family:








This culture of the CPD is one that allows for the disproportionate use of
excessive and deadly force against young people of colorand one that
reflects the institutionalized racial bias and systematic inequalities that are
embedded in the foundation of the CPD.


CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE: SEXUAL ASSAULTS

The use of sexual violence by the CPD further brutalizes, exploits, and degrades
Chicagos youth of color. Former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Peter Kooijmans has
specifically stated that rape or other forms of sexual assault committed by members of law
enforcement constitute torture.
22
Due to the U.S.s failures to comply with Article 11 of the
Convention, no official data is currently available regarding the number of rapes and
sexual assaults committed by law enforcement officers in the U.S. However, reports
received through the PEL and other youth-focused NGOs in Chicago offer evidence that
rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment of womenincluding transgender women, as
well as transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who do not identify as
womenis committed with alarming frequency by the CPD. The following is one such
report:

So the p|ece I'm gonna share I started when I heard about my fr|end. When my fr|end Dom|n|que Irank||n,
a|so known as Damo, d|ed from the po||ce. ne was tazed about three months ago. And then after a coup|e
days |n the hosp|ta| he passed away. ne was k|||ed for stea||ng a bott|e of ||quor from a Wa|greens or
someth|ng. And for a wh||e I cou|dn't wr|te about |t. I started a p|ece and I put |t down. And then [ust a
coup|e days ago.a coup|e of my fr|ends were arrested by po||ce. And |n the process some of the cops
pu||ed the|r guns on us. And I thought |f one of us was k|||ed r|ght there, the same process wou|d [ust keep
happen|ng. And I rea||y got the sense of ||ke, d|sempowerment. 1he same sense I got when I saw Damo |n
the hosp|ta| bed, or saw h|m |n the casket. And I knew there was noth|ng we cou|d do.
Due to the k||||ng of koshad McIntosh the po||ce |s harass|ng the c|t|zens |n th|s commun|ty. Cn the s|de of the
bu||d|ng where he was murdered, there were c|t|zens p|ay|ng cards who saw the ent|re encounter. When one
of them spoke out the po||ce beat h|m. 1he res|dents |n th|s commun|ty are scared |n fear that |t cou|d be
them. 1he way they |nt|m|dated the crowd that n|ght of the murder was a s|gn of the po||ce be|ng a gang,
tak|ng up for the|r own, and try|ng to cover up what rea||y happened. 1h|s commun|ty |s outraged that they
shot h|m down |n broad day||ght and [are] |nt|m|dat|ng c|t|zens because they want to te|| what happened. 1he
detect|ve |ead|ng th|s case has yet to speak w|th any of the c|t|zens that were present at the t|me of th|s
hom|c|de. 1hey haven't re|eased any |nformat|on to our fam||y or even a phone ca|| about someth|ng so s|mp|e
as a po||ce report nor autopsy. We need answers and we go|ng to a|| cost to get them. I hope you can he|p us |n
any way because we need a|| the he|p we can get.We're not even a||owed to go to the po||ce stat|on and ta|k
to anyone. Lvery t|me we go they te|| us they wou|d g|ve us a ca||, but |t never happened.


8




23










CPD officers also target young sex workers and homeless youth (among others), and
extort sexual favors in exchange for youth not being arrested or subjected to further police
violence.
24
Youth regularly report sexual violence similar to this young persons
experience:


25



Street searches, the CPDs holding facilities, and Illinois juvenile detention facilities are
additional sites where youth of color experience sexual violence. Only 20% of sexual
abuse charges against CPD officers are sustained, with minor penalties.
26
At WCGs youth
hearing, a 19-year-old Latina woman shared this experience:













Youth who are detained in Illinois are exposed to juvenile facilities with exceptionally high
rates of sexual abuse. Although the Committee previously demanded that the U.S. ensure
that detained children are kept in facilities separate from adult inmate populations,
unfortunately that demand does not ensure that youth are protected from sexual violence.
Fifteen percent of young people detained in Illinois juvenile facilities have experienced
sexual victimization by adult staff. This is 50% greater than the nationwide average of
10%.
27
Additionally disturbing is the fact thatin order to protect these youth who are
sexually assaulted while they are detaineddetention facilities reserve the right to confine
these youth in prolonged isolationa practice otherwise acknowledged by the U.S. to be
CIDT and condemned by UN Special Rapportuer Juan Mendez.
28
These conditions of
youth detention lay bare the U.S. governments continued failure to comply with the
Committees recommendations regarding conditions of incarcerated youth and prevention
of sexual violence by law enforcement officers.
29



I was wa|k|ng to the bus when a po||ce off|cer ca||ed out and sa|d, "ney you, come here g|r| w|th a|| of that
ass." I |gnored the comment unaware of where |t was com|ng from unt|| he pu||ed up on the curb to b|ock
my path |n h|s undercover cop car. ne [umps out and ye||s "D|dn't you hear me ca|||ng you g|r|?" I rep||ed
s|mp|y by say|ng, "No my name |sn't g|r| w|th a|| of that ass." ne got very mad and s|apped me say|ng I was
d|srespectfu| and say|ng, "Don't you know who I am?".I began to fear h|m so I s|ow|y backed away and he
ran up and choke-s|ammed me say|ng I |nsu|ted an off|cer and was under arrest, when peop|e started to
come and |ook he handcuffed me, p|aced me |n the back seat, and drove away. When we stopped at an
a||ey I rea||zed he wasn't tak|ng me |n.ne got out of the car, came to where I was and tr|ed to rape me.
23
I was so||c|ted by a po||ce offer who sa|d that |f I had sex w|th h|m he wou|dn't
arrest me. So I d|d. 1hen afterwards he cuffed me and pressed charges anyway.
24
I saw the po||ce swerve around and stop |n front of me. 1hey ask me my name. Now when you run my
name as a po||ce off|cer, I'm not gonna ||e, a red ||ght pops up. 8ut that's from stuff I d|d probab|y 3
rd
or
4
th
grade. And |t sucked cus I'm s|tt|ng there, now I'm |n handcuffs. 1hey sa|d, "We have to search you."
It's two ma|e off|cers. I had on |egg|ngs and a tank-top. Noth|ng e|se. And they st||| ran through and
searched me comp|ete|y. 1hey were check|ng every crev|ce of my body for any type of weapon.Now
when I got to the po||ce stat|on, the same off|cer who had searched me, he's k|nd of a we|rd off|cer.
I've met h|m before, downtown when I was by the ||brary. ne's one of those off|cers who tr|es to get
you to do.we|| pretty much d|sgust|ng th|ngs. And he had the nerve|n front of someone who was
above h|mhe unz|pped h|s pants, stood there, and |ooked at me for 30 m|nutes wh||e I'm wa|t|ng for
them to run my name.So I sat there and I was ||ke, "ou're k|nda d|sturb|ng me." ne sa|d, "1hat
doesn't matter. I'm the one who arrested you. I gotta do a|| your paperwork. I gotta do a|| th|s. ou
owe me."


9
CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE: MASS ARREST AND DETENTION

The targeting and harassment of young people of color leads to their mass incarceration
and over-representation in detention centers. Chicagos youth are aware of this
discrimination and identify incarceration as state violence against communities of color.
This point was expressed by one young Black man and organizer at WCGs youth hearing:









Numbers do tell storiesand the numbers demonstrate that Black youth are
disproportionately targeted and subjected to arrest in Chicago. According to the CPD,
Black youth accounted for 77% of the arrests of youth in 2011 and 79% in 2012.
30
Latino
youth accounted for most of the other arrests, i.e., 18% of these arrests in 2011 and 17%
in 2012.
31
The patterns of youth arrests across CPD districts are not aligned with the
patterns of youth demographics across CPD districts. Rather, throughout the entire cityin
all 25 districtsthe percentage of Black youth who are arrested is dramatically higher than
the percentage of youth residents who are Black. And consistent with the CPDs
institutionalized racial bias, the highest ratios of Black youth arrests occur in police districts
with majority White residents.
32


However, beyond these numbers are peoples stories. One example is a young Black
womans PEL report regarding a time when the CPD used a suspects description as
justification for racially profiling and arresting her neighbors en masse:









These numbers and stories show how the CPDs targeted policing practices isolate,
control, and repress not only individual people of color but also entire communities of color.

CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE: INACTION AND IMPUNITY

Despite the overwhelming physical presence of the CPD in the lives of young people of
color, youth of color have been shown that they may not be able to rely on the police to
step in and help them, even in an emergency. In fact, youth report a trend of police
negligence and inaction. For example, at WCGs youth hearing, one young woman
testified that a CPD officer refused to help her critically injured friend:






1here's numbers that te|| stor|es. L|ke Cook County Ia|| spends 5S00 m||||on to |ock us up but on|y
51.9 m||||on on v|o|ence prevent|on. Wh|ch |s serv|ces and programs. 1hat te||s what they want.
1here's over 80 of 8|ack peop|e |ocked up |n the [a|| system - that te||s who they want and how
they want |t. More than 70 of us are |n there for non-v|o|ent cases. 1hat's how they want |t for
drug cases. 1hat's how they want |t.

1he po||ce rounded up everyone on a b|ock corner because of an |nc|dent that happened down the
b|ock. Whoever "f|t the descr|pt|on" was ||ab|e to be arrested and deta|ned. My s|ster's boyfr|end
was arrested for unru|y behav|or for express|ng gr|ef over h|s nephew be|ng shot. I was threatened
to be arrested for the same offense |f I d|dn't |eave the scene, a|though I ||ve across the street. I
be||eve the po||ce |n my ne|ghborhood are on|y |nterested |n f||||ng the|r quotas.

My fr|end was shot. ne and I wou|d do a |ot of peace ra|||es and th|ngs ||ke that to stop the v|o|ence.
And so |t was [ust shock|ng to me that he was shot.and he was |ay|ng out |n the f|e|d and h|s s|ster
was present at the t|me and the po||ce were nearby |n the area. And she went and banged on the
po||cemen's door and he [ust sat |n the car, |augh|ng. ne d|dn't get out to he|p or anyth|ng of that
nature.Lventua||y the ambu|ance came.



10
Police inaction also takes the form of the CPDs negligence in promptly investigating
allegations of police violence and holding officers accountable. Indeed, civilians formal
complaints against the CPDs brutal and excessive use of force infrequently result in
penalization, and discipline for such occurrences is rare and mild. According to the CPDs
own data, between 2002 and 2004, Chicago residents filed 10,149 complaints of excessive
force, illegal searches, racial abuse, and false arrests against the CPD. Only 124 of these
10,149 complaints were sustained (1.2%), and a mere 19 cases (0.18%) resulted in any
meaningful penalty (a suspension of a week or more).
33


Data that the CPD recently releasedunder a court order resulting from seven years of
litigationreveals an alarming rate of impunity for the CPDs most violent officers.
Between May 2002 and December 2008, there were 195 officers who each received 5 or
more excessive force complaintsand only 28 of these officers were penalized.
34
Put
another way, in the face of a combined 1,509 complaints against these officers, the CPD
issued only 32 penalties. Of these 32 penalties issued, 41% were Violation Noted or
Reprimand and 31% resulted in suspensions of only 1 to 5 days.

Similar rates of impunity occur for general misconduct complaints: Between May 2001 and
May 2006, there were 662 officers who each received 10 or more misconduct
complaints.
35
Of the 10,735 complaints made against these officers, only 219 resulted in a
penalty (2%), predominantly in the form of reprimands and suspensions of 1 to 5 days
(36% and 50%, respectively). Five-hundred eight of these 662 most-complained-about
officers received no penalties at all.

While police abuse is rampant across the U.S., the CPD acts with exceptional impunity.
For example, a brutality complaint is 94% less likely to be sustained in Chicago than in the
nation as a whole: Only 0.48% of brutality complaints against the CPD are sustained (as
opposed to 8% nationally).
36
Moreover, approximately half of the abuse complaints that
are sustained by the CPD are only sustained due to administrative violations, rather than
for the brutality of the accused officers misconduct.

These extraordinary rates of police impunity are the result of fundamental deficiencies and
systemic failures of the CPD to identify, prevent, and investigate charges of CIDT.
Appallingly, in 85% of CPD police abuse investigations the accused officer is never even
interviewed.
37
Furthermore, only 13% of CPD officers who amass 50 or more abuse
complaints within 5 years are flagged for early intervention or monitoring programs.
38

These are overt violations of Articles 10 and 12 of the Convention.

And while the CPDs data on complaints against officers indicates a pervasive culture of
police misconduct, violence, and impunity, these complaints represent only a fraction of
the overall incidents. As previously noted, most victims of police violence never make an
official report out of fear of retaliation or lack of legal and/or financial support (not to
mention their well-founded beliefs that their complaints will be ignored). Indeed, none of
the cases highlighted in this reports testimonies have been investigated or prosecuted,
and many youth only felt safe to share their testimony through a private, unofficial process
due to their fear of retaliation by the CPD. As a result, acts of torture and CIDT are
underreported, offending officers are not held accountable, and a climate of tolerance of
these violations continues to grow within the CPD.


11
In addition to being denied their right to complain and seek redress without fear of
retaliation, youth of color in Chicago are not assured fair and adequate compensation,
including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible, as required by Article 14 of the
Convention. This remains true despite the enormous damages caused by police and
suffered by young people of color.

In a private testimony at WCGs youth hearing, a 21-year-old Latino man vented his
frustrations over the cost of the CPDs lack of accountability to his community:
















This testimony touches on the fact that individuals incur the monetary costs of medical care,
trauma, loss of work or schooling, theft of property, legal costs, and other charges of police
violence, and entire communities and generations of people of color bear the accumulated
debts created by the financial, physical, and emotional aspects of constant police
repression. Neither the CPD nor the U.S. has offered: (a) sufficient compensation for the
total costs of state abuses of power, or (b) rehabilitation to any of the victims who have
successfully brought cases against the City of Chicago for police misconduct.

The impunity of the CPD exposes the underlying relationship between communities of color
and the state. This is a relationship of unequal access to power and accountabilitya
relationship where violence is used by the police to enforce and maintain the
marginalization of communities of color.

CHICAGO POLICE VIOLENCE:
CONCLUSIONS AND VIOLATIONS OF THE CONVENTION

Testimonies such as those highlighted in this report, which are supported by the data that
community members struggled to obtain, demonstrate the systemic targeting, harassment,
abuse, and CIDT of Chicagos youth of color by the CPD, as well as ongoing violations of
several of the Conventions articles. The U.S.s report fails to address these concerns.

Article 2: The U.S. report to the Committee fails to substantially acknowledge or provide
solutions for the widespread reports of police violence against minorities that the
Committee has identified.
39
The scope, frequency, and persistence of police torture and
CIDT against young Chicagoans of color effectively undermines the U.S.s claims that the
measures in place are adequate to prevent torture and meet its obligations under Article 2
of the Convention.

Articles 12, 13, 14: Further, the U.S. reports dismissive statement that U.S. law provides
various avenues for seeking redress in cases of torture is deeply deficient.
40
As
documented extensively here, and by other NGOs, even when individuals are willing to
come forward and make claims, redress is unlikely due to inhibiting elements of U.S.
definitions of torture and legal procedures.
41
In response to the Committees request for
information regarding its compliance with Article 12,
42
the U.S. referenced 254 law
1he t|cket ended up be|ng dropped. 8ut even though |t was a success, I st||| had to go through the t|me
of ||ke m|ss|ng a day of work so that I cou|d go to th|s court date and have to defend myse|f. 8ut, |n the
f|rst p|ace, I shou|dn't have to be defend|ng myse|f. Lspec|a||y |f I'm pay|ng tax do||ars to these po||ce
off|cers so that they can serve and protect and enforce the |aws, but they're the f|rst ones break|ng
them, and then wast|ng my t|me. So |t's ||ke I'm pay|ng doub|e. We're pay|ng doub|e for these serv|ces
that we're not even gett|ng.


12
enforcement officials who have been prosecuted in 177 cases of civil rights violations
(including, but not limited to, police-specific abuses) over the course of four years.
43
The
report later cites that, since 2005, 165 officers and public officials have been convicted or
taken plea-bargains in cases of police brutality and excessive force.
44
However, it has
been widely documented, in this and other reports, that police violence occurs at
extraordinarily high rates.
45
Thus, the extremely limited number of prosecuted cases
presented in the U.S. report is insufficient evidence of the U.S.s compliance with Articles
12, 13, and 14 of the Convention.

Article 11: In its report, the U.S. admits that the majority of convicted officers and officials
were found guilty of abusing minority victimsan admission that further supports this
reports claims of the racial nature of police violence. Yet, the U.S. intentionally fails to
promptly investigate acts of torture and CIDT by police departments such as the CPD by
refusing to establish a federal data system to document and review the demographics,
scope, and nature of police misconduct.
46
The Initial U.S. Report conceded that the
absence of reliable national statistics precludes an accurate statistical description of the
frequency with which incidents of abuse and brutality by law enforcement officers take
place. Yet the U.S. has made no offer, either in the Initial or subsequent reports, to
address this critical lack of basic documentation and systemic review of evidence and
allegations of torture and CIDT by law enforcement in Chicago and nation-wide.
47
The U.S.
governments insistence that current practices are adequate indicates a false assurance
and intentions for continued noncompliance with Article 11 of the Convention.

Article 10: The U.S. government continues to fail to meet its obligations under Article 10 of
the Convention. The U.S. refers to a variety of law enforcement training programs at the
federal, state, and local levels in its current report to the Committee, claiming that [i]n
order to address police brutality and discriminatory conduct, the United States has stepped
up its training of law enforcement officers with a view to combating prejudice that may lead
to violence (emphasis added).
48
However, the continued prevalence of Chicago police
abuse and misconduct against predominantly youth of color indicates that the training
measures in place are not effective. The U.S. governments claim that it has stepped up
its law enforcement training programs is severely undermined by the failure of current law
enforcement training standards to reduce torture and CIDT.

The expected response from law enforcement officialsthat reported incidents of police
violence are not illustrative of systemic endorsement of racialized brutality or violent police
officers, but rather undertrained officers or an under-resourced departmentis
inconsistent with the pervasiveness and racial specificity of Chicagos police violence
against young people of color. We assert that the documented and lived experiences of
young people of color in Chicago constitute torture and CIDT at the hands of law
enforcement. We echo the claim made by the Civil Rights Congress in their 1951 We
Charge Genocide petition:






Unconscionably, this claim remains true today, as the CPD acts with impunity in
perpetrating violence on Chicagos youthand whole communitiesof color.

We ma|nta|n, therefore, that the oppressed Negro c|t|zens of the Un|ted States, segregated,
d|scr|m|nated aga|nst and |ong the target of v|o|ence, suffer from genoc|de as the resu|t of the
cons|stent, consc|ous, un|f|ed po||c|es of every branch of government.




Behind these stories and numbers are real peoplereal peoples severe pain, humiliation,
suffering, and death at the hands of those charged with the duty to protect and serve
Chicago. This reality blatantly and manifestly violates the Convention Against Torture.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COMMITTEE

Chicagos youth of color are resisting the routine police violence that impacts their lives and
communities, and they are working to bring into reality a powerful vision of a city that rejects
violence in all of its forms. As a 23-year-old Black man expressed at WCGs youth hearing:










WCG urges the Committee to recognize the life-threatening struggles that young people of
color in Chicago are enduring at the hands of the CPD and to support their organizing
efforts to end police violence.

Specifically, WCG calls on the Committee to: (1) identify the CPDs treatment of young
people as torture and CIDT as defined by the Convention and in violation of Convention
Articles 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14; (2) request and demand a response from the CPD
regarding the steps it will take both to end this treatment and to fully compensate the
individuals, families, and communities impacted by this violence; and (3) recommend that
the U.S. Department of Justice open a pattern and practice investigation of the CPDs
treatment of youth of color and seek the entry of a consent decree that requires the CPD to
document, investigate and punish acts of torture and CIDT, and implement other
necessary reforms.
________________________________________________________________________

ENDNOTES

1
CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (25 July 2006), 25, 28, 37.
2
CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (20 January 2010), 42.
3
WCGs PEL is modeled after The Young Womens Empowerment Projects (YWEP) Bad Encounter Line (BEL). YWEP was an
organization run by and for young women, including transgender youth, with past or current experience in the sex trade and
street economy. YWEP began the BEL in September 2009 in order to document and assess young peoples experiences of
institutional violence. In its 2012 report, Denied Help! How Youth in the Sex Trade & Street Economy are Turned Away form
Systems Meant to Help Us & What We are Doing to Fight Back, YWEP revealed that, of its 146 documented bad encounters,
48 (33%) involved police, and 34 (23%) involved the healthcare system. When WCG formed, YWEP leaders were instrumental
in setting up the PEL.
4
Ashkenas, Jeremy and Haeyoun Park. 2014. The Racial Gap in Americas Police Departments. New York Times, September
4, 2014. (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/03/us/the-race-gap-in-americas-police-
departments.html?emc=edit_th_20140904&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=65757435&_r=2)
5
Third Periodic Report of the United States of America to the Committee Against Torture, Submitted by the United States of
America to the Committee Against Torture, August 12, 2013, 147.
6
American Civil Liberties Union. 2014. War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing. NY: ACLU.
7
Grossman, Harvey. "Re: CPD Monitoring of Sidewalk Stop-and-frisks." Letter to Mayor Emanuel. 15 Jan. 2013. MS. American
Civil Liberties Union.
8
Futterman, Craig B., H. Melissa Mather, and Melanie Miles,The Use of Statistical Evidence to Address Police Supervisory and
Disciplinary Practices: The Chicago Police Departments Broken System, November 2007.
9
City of Chicago, Open Data Executive Order No. 2012-2, (2012).
10
Annual Report 2011-2012, Independent Police Review Authority.
kea| accountab|||ty |s restorat|ve [ust|ce pract|ces.I th|nk that a|| peop|e shou|d be ab|e to ||ve
amongst each other. 1hat everyone shou|d have a chance. 1hat everyone needs equa| opportun|ty.I
a|so be||eve that us as c|t|zens ought to be ab|e to mon|tor the po||ce and ho|d them accountab|e for a
|ot of th|ngs that they're do|ng.

13





11
Mitchell, Chip. 2014. Report: Embattled Commander No. 1 for Excessive-Force Complaints. Portside, August 5, 2014
(http://portside.org/2014-08-15/report-embattled-commander-no-1-excessive-force-
complaints#sthash.EHG32rrG.K5xhPwpu.dpuf)
12
CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (25 July 2006), 25.
13
Caputo, Angela. 2014. Data: Black Chicagoans at higher risk of being shot by police. The Chicago Reporter, January 23
(http://www.chicagoreporter.com/data-black-chicagoans-higher-risk-being-shot-police - .U--OClYkJfM).
14
See Independent Police Review Authority, Officer-Involved Shootings, http://www.iprachicago.org/resources.html
15
See Gousman, Courtney and Patrick Elwood. 2014. Police commander suspected of sticking gun into suspects mouth.
WGNtv.com, August 27 (http://wgntv.com/2014/08/27/police-commander-charged-with-aggravated-battery-misconduct/); Al
Jazeera. 2014. Chicago protestors demand #JusticeforRoshad after teen shot by police. Al Jazeera, September 2
(http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201409022032-0024121); and Meyer, Erin. 2014. Residents Protest After Man, 19, Shot by
Police: They Killed My Baby. DNAinfo Chicago, August 25 (http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140825/north-
lawndale/residents-protest-after-man-19-shot-by-cops-they-killed-my-baby).
16
Meyer, Erin. 2014.
17
CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (20 January 2010), 36.
18
Hinkel, Dan and Alex Richards. 2012. Jolt of reality: Shootings persist as Chicago police Taser use skyrockets. Chicago
Tribune, July 2012 (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-20/news/ct-met-chicago-tasers-20120720_1_taser-michael-
partipilo-hundreds-officers)
19
Ibid
20
CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (25 July 2006), 25.
21
Eisen, Arlene. 2013. Operation Ghetto Storm: 2012 Annual Report on the Extrajudicial Killings of 313 Black People by Police,
Security Guards, and Vigilantes. Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. The reports findings singled out the CPD as especially
opaque for offering very incomplete reports on their killings.
(http://www.operationghettostorm.org/uploads/1/9/1/1/19110795/operation_ghetto_storm_updated_october_2013.pdf)
22
Case 10.970. Raquel Martin de Mejia v. Peru. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
23
Young Women's Empowerment Project. Denied Help!: How Youth in the Sex Trade & Street Economy are Turned Away from
Systems Meant to Help Up & What We are Doing to Fight Back. IL: YWEP, 2012. Page 30.
24
See Submission to the Committee Against Torture: In the Shadows of the War on Terror: Persistent Police Brutality and
Abuse in the United States, April 2006, Section III; and Young Women's Empowerment Project, Denied Help!: How Youth in the
Sex Trade & Street Economy are Turned Away from Systems Meant to Help Up & What We are Doing to Fight Back. IL: YWEP,
2012. Page 28.
25
Young Women's Empowerment Project, 2012. Page 28.
26
Futterman, et al., 2007
27
See Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2011-2012, US Department
of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, NCJ 241399, May 2013.
28
Third Periodic Report of the United States of America to the Committee Against Torture, Submitted by the United States of
America to the Committee Against Torture, August 12, 2013, 209, 211.
29
CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (25 July 2006), 32, 34 and CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (20 January 2010), 32, 34.
30
Kaba, Mariame, Arresting Justice (Second Edition): Juvenile Arrests in Chicago, 2011 and 2012, Project Nia, 2013.
31
Ibid.
32
Cook, Ashley, Zygmunt Czykieta, Paul Mack, and Chris Skrable, Trends in Chicago Juvenile Arrests 2009-2012, August 2013.
33
Futterman, et al., 2007
34
See Chicago Police Department Moore List- Excessive Force, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1237392-moore-e-
f-list.html
35
See Chicago Police Department Bond List of 662 Chicago Police Officers With More Than 10 Misconduct Complaints,
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1237492-bond-list-of-662-police-officers.html
36
Futterman, et al., 2007
37
Ibid
38
Ibid
39
CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (20 January 2010), 42.
40
Third Periodic Report of the United States of America to the Committee Against Torture, Submitted by the United States of
America to the Committee Against Torture, August 12, 2013, 147.
41
See Submission to the Committee Against Torture: In the Shadows of the War on Terror: Persistent Police Brutality and
Abuse in the United States, April 2006, Section VI-E.
42
CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (20 January 2010), 42.
43
Third Periodic Report of the United States of America to the Committee Against Torture, Submitted by the United States of
America to the Committee Against Torture, August 12, 2013, 246.
44
Ibid, 259.
45
See Submission to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Raising the Issue of Continued Discrimination via
Police Misconduct and Extra-judicial/Summary Executions Committed with Impunity on American Born People of Afrikan
Descent, September 2013; Submission to the Committee Against Torture: In the Shadows of the War on Terror: Persistent
Police Brutality and Abuse in the United States, April 2006
46
Ibid, 259.
47
CAT/C/28/Add.5. (9 February 2000), 89.
48
Third Periodic Report of the United States of America to the Committee Against Torture, Submitted by the United States of
America to the Committee Against Torture, August 12, 2013, 244.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE AT WWW.WECHARGEGENOCIDE.ORG