Truth Stories: Credibility Determinations at the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission

58 Pages Posted: 29 Sep 2013 Last revised: 22 Jun 2014

Date Written: September 28, 2013

Abstract

This is the first scholarly article to investigate the inner workings of the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC).

The TIRC was established by statute in 2009 to provide legal redress for victims of police torture. Prisoners who claim that their convictions were based on confessions coerced by police torture can utilize the procedures available at the TIRC to obtain judicial review of their cases. For those who have exhausted all appeals and post-conviction remedies, the TIRC represents the tantalizing promise of justice long denied. To be eligible for relief, however, the claimant must first meet the TIRC’s strict four-element test for credibility.

This article argues that through its over-reliance on these credibility standards, the TIRC effectively inscribes and reproduces the dominant narrative of police torture, one that promotes a bad apples myth and ignores the contributing factors of broader-scale forces such as racism and inadequate police accountability mechanisms. Using the informal-formal justice complex as a frame, this article observes that the energy of social movements is often channeled towards legal responses which sometimes take unconventional forms. In doing so, the TIRC quietly redirects public attention away from structural deficiencies in the criminal justice system by providing a legal outlet for public discontent while simultaneously reinforcing the legitimacy of the same criminal justice system. Fortunately, social movements have again picked up the slack by cultivating counter-publics as alternate discursive spaces used to challenge the systems of oppression that produce a climate where police torture is acceptable. The article ends with a consideration of two alternative forums for justice — the Survivor’s Roundtable and the People’s Hearings on Police Crimes.

Keywords: torture, police torture, Chicago, truth commission, non-judicial, redress, reparations

Suggested Citation

Ricardo, Kim D., Truth Stories: Credibility Determinations at the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (September 28, 2013). Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, Vol. 45, No. 4, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2332747

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