Kim Foxx: Candidate profile

Bio

Party: Democrat

City: Flossmoor

Office sought: Cook County state's attorney

Age: 47

Family: Married with 4 children

Occupation: Cook County state's attorney

Education: Southern Illinois University, BA in Political Science; JD from the SIU School of Law

Civic involvement: Board Director, Free Spirit Media, and Adler University; prior Board service includes Planned Parenthood of Illinois, former President of the National Black Prosecutors Association-Chicago Chapter

Elected offices held: Cook County state's attorney

Incumbent? If yes, when were first elected: 2016

Website: kimfoxx.com

Twitter: @KimFoxxforSA

Facebook: @kimfoxx2020

Questions and Answers

1. Why are you running for this office, whether for reelection or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? If so, what?

Chicago has always been my home. As a young girl, I grew up in Cabrini Green. I've always known that our system needs to change, and I've spent my career fighting for children and families like mine.

Over the past three years, I have prioritized prosecuting violent crimes, bringing greater accountability to police-involved shootings, leading on criminal justice reform to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs, and holding the Cook County State's Attorney Office to an unprecedented level of transparency.

We have made tremendous strides in criminal justice reform, most notably our work to help pass the most equitable cannabis legalization law in the country and our efforts to expunge records and begin to reverse the impact of the war on drugs that disproportionately harmed communities of color.

I'm running for reelection because I want to fight every single day to continue the important work of reforming justice and making a fairer, safer system for Cook County.

2. How pertinent is the Jussie Smollett case to this election? If it should have been handled differently, how so?

When I took office in 2016, it was the bloodiest year in Cook County in decades. In assembling and reviewing the data of criminal prosecutions, it was clear that the State's Attorney's Office was spending the overwhelming majority of our prosecutorial resources on nonviolent offenses. Under my leadership, we have prioritized the prosecution of violent offenses and expanded the use of alternatives to prosecution and diversion in cases that are lower level and nonviolent in nature by 25%.

The Smollett case was evaluated in the same manner as other cases involving similar events and defendants with similar criminal histories.

Due to the public interest, in this case, our office should have taken more care to inform the public about how the case was reviewed and ultimately handled. I fell short of my own standard for transparency and accountability in the way this matter was communicated, and continue to learn so that we can always improve.

3. How pertinent is criminal justice reform to this election? What should the state's attorney's office be doing in regards to that issue?

Upon taking office, my team and I set out our "Mission, Vision, and Values" which guides our work every day.

We pledged to do justice in pursuit of thriving, healthy, and safe communities. We committed to creating a safer, stronger Cook County and approaching every case with integrity, demanding accountability, and increasing our presence in the community.

We said that our success would not be measured in convictions, that we believed in doing what's right while fighting for the best and most fair outcomes, whatever form that takes based upon the facts, evidence, and the law.

We have owned and asserted our responsibility to address the historic inequities in our criminal justice system. Some of our marquee accomplishments include the recent cannabis expungements, leading on bail reform, successfully suing the Trump administration to reduce the harm done to immigrant families, and defending our assault weapons ban in court against the NRA and winning.

4. What crime should be the office's top target. Drugs? Gang violence? Child sex abuse? Something else? Why? What steps will you take to address the priorities as you see them?

All types of violence, not just gun violence, are our top priority.

To that end, we have a specialized team of prosecutors who comprise a special unit to address sexual assault cases. Within that unit, I created a new pilot program where one prosecutor handles a sexual assault case from start to finish, from the initial interview to sentencing, in an effort to minimize the suffering and trauma for victims.

We have also established a track for individuals who want to focus their careers on prosecuting perpetrators of sexual assault, allowing the most dedicated individuals to work on these types of cases.

It should be noted that 40% of the felony cases handled by the CCSAO are drug cases. The majority of those cases are for possession.

As the opioid epidemic has reached crisis level, we must confront that substance use disorder is a public health issue. Our administration has instituted a task force on substance abuse and mental health to work with community organizations and law enforcement to effectively address the issue of drug-related crime.

Drug use is closely correlated to property crimes which is a dominant issue in our suburban communities.

5. Describe your position regarding the allocation of resources in the state's attorney's office. Are personnel allocated as they should be? Are there capital expenses or other budgetary items that the office must address, and, if so, how do you propose to address them?

The CCSAO is the second-largest prosecutor's office in the country. We have almost 800 attorneys, 400 administrative staff, and 100 investigators.

Our mandate is to prosecute crime and to represent Cook County in all civil proceedings. Approximately 93% of our budget is allocated to personnel expenses.

During my first year in office we were forced to lay off a number of assistant state's attorneys as a result of the budget shortfall related to the sweetened beverage tax. Additionally, we were placed on a hiring freeze during that time.

As a result we lost nearly 70 attorneys during the latter part of 2017. We have finally regained appropriate staffing levels as a result of increased funding and budget certainty. However, we continue to need improvements in technology.

As the use of body-worn cameras has increased, so has the need for assistance to be able to view and report on its findings. We are also in the process of procuring a new case management system that meets the needs of a 21st-century prosecutor's office. Additionally, we are attempting to move away from paper files into digitized files for efficiency and cost savings.

6. Name one concrete program you'll create or personnel move you'll make to improve efficiency in the office or make it more successful. Explain how it will be funded and how you will overcome any obstacles to initiating it.

My administration recognizes that the Office of State's Attorney has the power to put protections in place for those who are most vulnerable in our community.

That is why in the wake of the Trump travel ban our office put in place the first of its kind fraud hotline and hired the first Immigration Policy Adviser to limit the impact on communities who are subject to deportation.

We have also sued and successfully, got an injunction against the Trump Administration from holding a person's use of public aid against them in a status change application.

In addition, during 2017 I hired the State's Attorney's Office's first Chief Ethics Officer.

The role of the ethics officer is to ensure that the State's Attorney and her assistant attorneys operate at the highest ethical standards.

When reelected I will continue the work of analyzing the needs and budget of my office to allocate our resources to the diversion and prosecution of the most serious offenses.