ABC 7 investigative report shows Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx leading a national model on progressive reform

Chicago - On December 17, 2019, ABC 7 released an investigative report on Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. The report offers details critically analyzing her work as “a progressive” while us offering validation to her reforms since she became State Attorney in 2016. “The hardest part (of reform) has been people deeply invested in the status quo,” said Boston, Massachusetts area District Attorney Rachel Rollins. “We want to be held accountable, similar to what Kim Foxx has done in Cook County… She’s really leading the country with respect to transparency.” Though the report highlights many changes State’s Attorney Fox has bought to the office, one that stands out is the mention of the analysis conducted by the University of Chicago Crime Lab which showed five districts with embedded prosecutors saw a decrease in violence and a significant increase in enhanced gun charges compared to the districts without a prosecutor. "My number one concern is making sure we're driving down violence,” said Foxx. When we stopped prosecuting those traffic offenses, we were able to take attorneys from our traffic unit and re-purpose them in our gun crimes strategies unit,"

For State’s Attorney Foxx, her work is about offering holistic and transparent approaches that address both significant challenges Cook county faces with crime while also bringing forth criminal justice reform.  "Our mandate is always about public safety," she said. "In a city like Chicago where we have a gun violence epidemic, we have to limit spending our time chasing offenses that aren't going to have an impact on that, and that isn’t  keeping our community safe." She believes in changing that prioritizing transparency while being “smart on crime” in how we pursue cases and violence, will allow us to make long-lasting changes that will positively impact Cook County. Find more from the  ABC 7 investigative report here.