[JURIST] Several civil rights organizations, including the University of Chicago Law School's MacArthur Justice Center [advocacy website] and the ACLU of Illinois [advocacy website] announced [press release] Monday that they have asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights [official website] to investigate allegations that as many as 20 Chicago police detectives used torture to obtain confessions from black suspects between 1971 and 1992. According to allegations contained in the request for a hearing, at least 135 black suspects were exposed to several torture techniques, including staged mock executions, suffocation, and the shocking of the ears and genitalia. The IACHR, the fact-finding body of the Organization of American States, must decide whether to investigate the allegations and could ultimately issue a non-binding declaration asking the US government to prosecute. Reuters has more.