Jon Burge Confession Scandal

Date: January 11, 2003 • Location: Washington, United States

After Chicago police detective Jon Burge was discovered to have extracted forced confessions from more than 200 suspects, the governor of Illinois commuted the death sentences of 167 prisoners and pardoned four others.

Jon Graham Burge was an American police detective and commander in the Chicago Police Department. He was found guilty of lying about "directly participating in or implicitly approving the torture" of at least 118 people in police custody in order to force false confessions.