You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Justice Department Finds Rampant Civil Rights Abuses by Chicago Cops

HeadlineJan 17, 2017

In Chicago, the Justice Department said Friday that Chicago police officers routinely violate civil rights, target communities of color with excessive force and maintain a “code of silence” to stymie investigations into abuses. Attorney General Loretta Lynch summarized the findings of a 13-month investigation of the Chicago Police Department.

Loretta Lynch: “On the basis of this exhaustive review, the Department of Justice has concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the Chicago Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.”

The investigation began in December 2015 after the release of a video showing the death of 17-year-old African American Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times in by white police officer Jason Van Dyke. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday agreed in principle to negotiate a consent decree for a federal monitor to oversee the Chicago Police Department.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top