New Cook County prosecutor faces challenges fixing Kim Foxx’s legacy

Cook County’s new state’s attorney inherits crime problems exacerbated by predecessor Kim Foxx. Eileen O’Neill Burke appears ready to fight crime without abandoning her efforts to treat minority defendants fairly. Here’s what he should do.

Homicides, motor vehicle theft, and other crimes have increased under Cook County State’s attorney Kim Foxx’s progressive agenda, leaving her successor facing many challenges and problems to solve.

The question is: What can Cook County expect from Foxx’s replacement, former criminal defense attorney, judge and prosecutor Eileen O’Neill Burke?

What should be done to repair the damage done to public safety and residents’ confidence in criminal prosecutions?

Burke could make Chicago and Cook County safer with reforms like charging more felonies, including low-level crimes like driving with an expired license and retail theft. Can use less distraction programs.

Kim Foxx’s legacy as a progressive prosecutor

Foxx promised reforms including deportation, diversion, and non-enforcement. HE priority expungement or non-execution of many non-violent criminals.

In 2020, he ensured: 45% License suspension charges were dismissed due to felony prosecution. He pleaded not guilty to felony charges for driving with a suspended license twice as often as his predecessor.

Foxx also raised the threshold for felony prosecution for retail theft $1000Although Illinois’ threshold $300 or more. A year before Foxx took office, 29% Retail theft cases were pursued as felonies. Just a year later 10% There was.

Theft increased significantly under Foxx as of June 2024 report From the Criminal Justice Council.

According to an analysis by Marshall ProjectFoxx refused to prosecute “more than 5,000 cases that would have been pursued by previous state’s attorney Anita Alvarez.” Much of this reduction was due to “refusing to prosecute low-level shoplifting and drug crimes and…diverting more cases into alternative treatment programs.”

Class 4 narcotics charges made up 28.5% of felony charges in 2019. Under Foxx, this rate dropped to 16.5% in 2021, while the number of offenders sent to diversion programs increased by 30%.

Foxx drops felony charges against him 29.9% Compared to Alvarez, the percentage of defendants dropped to 19.4%. In November 2016, 1,000 Cook County defendants went to jail, but under Foxx, that number was only 500 in November 2021.

murders augmented Significantly under Foxx’s rule, it’s hitting Chicago’s low-income and minority neighborhoods the hardest. Black Chicagoans are 20 times more likely to be homicide victims than white Chicagoans.

This was an epic failure of Foxx’s intended policies. use “poor, Black and Brown communities.”

What to expect from Burke?

Judging by his public statements, Burke is not a progressive ideologue. He will likely push for greater equality by “reducing the disproportionate incarceration rates of people of color in Cook County.”

aspect applicantBurke said he supported:

1. provision SAFE-T Act Elimination of cash bail in Illinois. Burke argued that the new system allows pretrial detention to be determined based on an assessment of the person’s danger to society rather than economic circumstances.
2. A “restorative justice office” focused on addressing “the underlying issues that drive criminal behavior rather than resorting to custody.” He recommended specialized courts tailored to the situations of youth, veterans, and those suffering from addiction or mental illness.
3. Reform the juvenile justice system to provide apprenticeships, community participation, educational enrichment, and job training for at-risk youth.
4. A “choice protection unit” in the state attorney’s office to prevent “sneaky” out-of-state actors from preventing women from getting abortions in Cook County or Illinois.
5. Prioritizing prosecutions related to marijuana, driving regulations or sex work, imposing retroactive sentences that “reduce the length of stay of people eligible for incarceration,” and reclassifying low-level drug possession as a misdemeanor.

Burke has promised to lower the retail theft prosecution threshold from $1,000 to $300 under Foxx, in line with state law.

Burke also supported increasing penalties for illegal gun possession as well as the use of extended magazines or keys. The CTA has issued more pretrial detention orders for violent crimes as well as gun crimes. pledge “to call “Every time someone uses a gun in a violent crime, like armed robbery or carjacking, they get arrested.”

How can Burke make Cook County safer?

Enforcing the law as written and holding criminals accountable are important parts of a criminal justice system that works for everyone. Burke should take common sense steps, including:

1. To create an environment that allows prosecutors to do their job. Foxx oversaw incredibly high turnover rates at the state attorney’s office. hundreds of staff He will resign within a few months due to dissatisfaction with his leadership.
2. It makes good on its promise to lower the retail theft felony prosecution threshold to $300.
3. Only follow diversion programs that have a proven track record.
4. Returning the denial rate of felony investigations for driving with an expired or suspended license and other traffic violations to pre-Foxx levels. Research Manhattan Institute It established a link between routine driving or traffic violations and much more serious crimes.
5. restore serious crime rates is being reduced to pre-pandemic levels. In April 2020, nearly 500 felony cases were filed as a result of Foxx’s office declining to prosecute, compared to 2,000-3,000 per month before the pandemic.

Solution

Almost two thirds 50 percent of Chicagoans are concerned about public safety where they live, and nearly half think public safety is worse in Chicago than elsewhere in the country. After Foxx declined to seek a third term, Cook County voters decided to go in a different direction on crime and public safety by electing Burke. Burke can fulfill the people’s mandate by enforcing the law as written and reinstating pre-Foxx and pre-pandemic investigative policies.