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* From the Marshall Project…
In 2016, Kim Foxx unseated an incumbent in Cook County, Illinois, vowing to transform the nation’s second-largest local prosecutor’s office and to bring more accountability to shootings by police while also reducing unnecessary prosecutions for low-level, non-violent crimes.
One year into her term, Foxx did something no other state’s attorney had ever done: she released six years of data outlining what happened in every felony brought to her office, offering an unprecedented view into the decision-making of prosecutors and its impact.
Our analysis of this data provides the first detailed look at the more than 35,000 cases that flow through Foxx’s office every year. We found that since she took office she turned away more than 5,000 cases that would have been pursued by previous State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, mostly by declining to prosecute low-level shoplifting and drug offenses and by diverting more cases to alternative treatment programs. Foxx has not finished her term, so these trends could yet change.
* The Sun-Times editorial board…
Foxx declined to pursue criminal charges in 2,850 potential felony cases, many of them involving shoplifting. Before Foxx took office, about 300 felony shoplifting cases were filed each month. Under Foxx, that number has fallen to 70 cases.
Foxx’s office dismissed 2,300 drug cases that Alvarez likely would have pursued. Often, the accused individual was sent to treatment and counseling instead of court. […]
Violent crime in Chicago and Cook County is on the decline. Murders and shootings in Chicago are at their lowest level in four years. Robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts in the city are at 20-year lows. Crime in Cook County has been trending down for longer than that.
The Marshall Project study emphasizes that it’s impossible to credit Foxx’s approach to prosecutions for any of this. We just don’t know. Crime rates go up and down for all kinds of complicated and interrelated reasons.
But it is equally true that Foxx’s critics can’t point to a single piece of empirical evidence, other than the random anecdote, to make the case that her policies have made the people of Cook County any less safe.
According to the Marshall Project, the Chicago police have increased arrests for unlawful use of a weapon by 40 percent. And, despite all the garment-rending by a certain class of pundits, lots of offenders are still being charged.
In May of this year, for example, the CPD made 487 UUW arrests and Foxx’s office filed felony charges against 442 of the alleged offenders, or about 91 percent.
In May of 2016, Anita Alvarez’s last full year in office, the CPD made 321 UUW arrests and Alvarez’s office filed felony charges against 288 of them, or about 90 percent.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:02 am
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I think the state needs to look at changes to the way it approaches minor offenses. Obviously jail isn’t the answer, but there are a lot of offenders that would benefit from mandatory community service, counseling, or mandatory education classes. This is probably a bigger issue in Cook County which seems to always be overwhelmed with the amount of small crimes and misdemeanors.
Comment by Chicagonk Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:11 am
=== a certain class of pundits ===
Southern sympathizers?
Comment by Juvenal Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:13 am
There is an surprising national swarm of conservatives, fueled as well by the local FOP, that are spinning this up. The national stuff is mostly because of the Jussie stuff. The local opposition is not.
Comment by Ok Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:15 am
Jussie Smollett.
Why did Kim Foxx drop the charges?
Comment by Juicy Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:24 am
Interesting correlation between the the rise of shoplifting and corresponding decline in prosecutions:
https://cwbchicago.com/2019/10/shoplifting-soars-as-prosecutors-back-off.html
Comment by City Zen Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:27 am
From an October 17 CWB blog which goes into great details
Since Foxx was elected in November 2016, retail theft reports are up 20% across the city. Along the posh Rush Street shopping district, reported incidents have more than doubled. And on State Street, famed in movie and song for its shopping opportunities, retail theft cases are up 32%.
But the North Avenue retail strip between Halsted Street and the Chicago River may be the hardest hit.
Retailers there filed 100 shoplifting reports with police through the end of September. That’s more than all of last year.
Comment by DuPage Saint Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:27 am
Two thoughts come to mind:
Gentrification causes crime to decrease. (Think NYC)
The police were standing down in 2016.
Comment by Name/Nickname - May soon be required Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:30 am
“There is an surprising national swarm of conservatives, fueled as well by the local FOP, that are spinning this up. The national stuff is mostly because of the Jussie stuff. The local opposition is not.”
Hit the nail on the head here. The Dems running in the primary against her will run out of allies very fast that aren’t tied with the local FOP or national conservatives…and they’ll have to constantly return donations tied to Trump supporters.
Comment by NIU Grad Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:33 am
It’ll be interesting to see how the election plays out. A lot of the opposition to Foxx will come from the suburbs and from the wealthy parts of the City. Many of the residents of Streetervile, ect. aren’t going to see the decrease in shoplifting prosecutions as a good thing. I favor decriminalization of all personal use levels of drug possession, so that is good that they aren’t prosecuting those cases.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:34 am
In the context of these statistics, dropping the Jessie Smollet case makes much more sense. Sure Smollet garnered a lot of press coverage, but it was hardly the crime of the century.
Comment by A Jack Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:37 am
Filing a false police report should not be prosecuted? Anyone who is the target of such a false report might beg to differ. Taxpayers who have to pay for investigations of made-up crimes also might disagree.
Comment by anon2 Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 10:48 am
So it’s a trade off. Less labor prosecuting shoplifting charges but more labor prosecuting gun charges. And gun crimes are down and retail theft if up. Let’s raise property taxes so we can have both. More gun crime prosecutions and more retail theft prosecutions. How about it guys?
Comment by 17% Solution Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:06 am
===Jussie Smollett===
“But it is equally true that Foxx’s critics can’t point to a single piece of empirical evidence, other than the random anecdote, to make the case that her policies have made the people of Cook County any less safe.”
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:06 am
Gun offenders are being released at a higher rate at the pre-trial stages because judges are setting lower bonds or no bond at all. That’s a policy put in place not by Kim Foxx but by Chief Judge Evans, with a nudge from Toni Preckwinkle. Judge Evans is the most powerful unelected official in Illinois. He just got reappointed to his post (overseeing 2,400 public employees and $275 million budget) in a secret ballot of 250 fellow circuit court judges. Good luck holding him accountable for just about anything.
On the post conviction side, I haven’t seen anyone do a deep dive on what effect the 2017 gun bill has had on the sentencing of those convicted of UUW. It was sponsored by Kwame Raoul and pushed by Eddie Johnson (and before him, Garry McCarthy,) because too many judges were giving probation to repeat gun offenders. Has it resulted in more offenders getting prison sentences?
Comment by Roman Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:08 am
^ Kim Foxx said she was recused.
Then she said it “was in the coloquial sense of recusal”.
She blantantly lied to the public.
Comment by Juicy Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:09 am
==Less labor prosecuting shoplifting charges==
Offset by more labor investigating shoplifting.
Comment by City Zen Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:17 am
According to the Marshall Project “While theft cases of smaller value items are still being prosecuted as misdemeanors, the policy has effectively eliminated thousands of felony cases.” So these lower level crimes aren’t being dropped, they are prosecuted as misdemeanors. A misdemeanor can still land a person in jail for a year.
Comment by 17% Solution Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:26 am
—^ Kim Foxx said she was recused.
Then she said it “was in the coloquial sense of recusal”.
She blantantly lied to the public.—
When Rich smokes your point, ignore and move on.
Comment by King Louis XVI Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 11:39 am
Rich “smoked my point” of asking why Kim Foxx dropped all charges against Jussie Smollett?
Rich’s point was about safety and did not address my question.
Comment by Juicy Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 12:02 pm
Smollet would be the “random anecdote”.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 12:06 pm
The random anecdote is probably CWB Chicago. I gotta give them some credit though. They’ve done some pretty good reporting.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 12:23 pm
I guess in these highly polarized times, we have to either hate or love Kim Foxx. Not me, I’m somewhere in the middle. I strongly agree with what she’s done in the criminal justice reform space, but her stupefying mishandling of the Smollett case has me open to voting for another candidate.
Comment by TNR Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 12:56 pm
“ Offset by more labor investigating shoplifting.”
The Cook County States Attorney’s office would be a different budget than a local police force budget. It’s true with more arrests for gun crimes there is more work for local police and with more retail theft there is more investigative work for local police.
However “ Violent crime in Chicago and Cook County is on the decline. Murders and shootings in Chicago are at their lowest level in four years. Robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts in the city are at 20-year lows. Crime in Cook County has been trending down for longer than that.”
That will free up some time for local police budgets I bet.
Comment by 17% Solution Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 1:18 pm
Foxx illegally ignored Illinois law by telling everybody she would decline to prosecute retail theft cases under $1,000 retail value (State law says anything over $300 is a felony), and only those with prior convictions for retail theft. She created a retail theft boom in Cook County, while parading her failing SJW policies. Evans and Dart fell right in line, even releasing convicted felons caught with guns on low or no bond on the laughably enforced electronic monitoring. A few Cook County judges were flabbergasted when her ASA’s failed to prosecute some offenders, but had no choice but to let offenders go free. Hopefully Smollett will be her undoing.
Comment by revvedup Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 2:18 pm
What is the trend in clearance rate for homicide and other major violent crimes?
Comment by Ebenezer Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 2:47 pm
“she released six years of data outlining what happened in every felony brought to her office”
She should get points for releasing the data. Real progress is going to be a long term process of building a baseline of trust, and getting the data out there is part of that process.
Comment by Ebenezer Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 2:55 pm
===Foxx illegally ignored Illinois law===
It’s called prosecutorial discretion. That’s not illegal. Not enforcing some gun laws in some Downstate counties is not illegal either for the same reaon.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 3:46 pm
Discretion reserved for famous people.
https://cwbchicago.com/2019/03/kim-foxx-says-smolletts-sweetheart-dea.html
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 4:01 pm
== She created a retail theft boom in Cook County, while parading her failing SJW policies.==
Where’s your proof this is all due to Foxx’s policies? Retail theft was already rising before Foxx was on the job.
It’s more likely that the retail theft increase is caused by better avenues for fencing stolen products. In the bad old days how could you convert a bag of tube socks or a handful of cheap sunglasses to cash? It would be hard work, you’d be better off working for the money. So it wasn’t worth the trouble. Now you can go on Amazon or EBay or Craigslist and sell those things.
Comment by All This Friday, Oct 25, 19 @ 4:28 pm