Kim Foxx reflects on bail reform, vacating wrongful convictions as successor takes tough-on-crime stance

For outgoing Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, keeping low-level defendants out of the Cook County Jail was as important as sending criminals to state prison.

Late last week, Foxx released a report touting her accomplishments since she took office in December 2016. At the top of the list: Her support for the Pretrial Fairness Act, a state law that went into effect in mid-2023 and eliminated cash bail, leading to a drop in the number of people held in jail while awaiting trial.

In her report, Foxx pointed out that her office helped vacate about 250 criminal cases due to the work of a special unit that examines allegations of wrongful convictions. More than 200 of those cases were tied to Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, convicted of shaking down a drug courier and accused of framing people with drug arrests.

Foxx also emphasized her work in overturning more than 15,000 cannabis-related convictions and expanding the data the public can see about how felony cases are handled. “For too long, the work of the criminal justice system has been largely a mystery," she said.

Foxx noted that her office referred more than 17,000 people to diversion programs that offer drug treatment, job placement and other services, instead of prison. Nearly 75% of those people graduated, her office said.

In a statement, Foxx said her team worked “tirelessly to enhance the scales of justice and equality in Cook County.”

Foxx also released data last week summarizing her office’s work on felony cases. Among the data she highlighted:

• Her prosecutors reviewed more than 138,000 felony cases and approved charges in 82%. One of the lowest approval rates was for retail theft — 44% countywide and 35% in the city. Retail theft of more than $300 is a felony under state law, but Foxx decided not to approve felony charges for any shoplifting cases involving less than $1,000.

• Close to 80% of the cases Foxx prosecuted resulted in a conviction, according to her figures. The lowest conviction rate was for narcotics — only 38% countywide.

• Her office sought pretrial detention in about 8,100 felony cases. Judges approved about two-thirds of those requests, her office said.

Foxx's tenure was, at times, controversial, especially over her prosecutorial decisions involving actor Jussie Smollett. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times last month, she said she was unfairly criticized for her handling of the case.

Foxx's successor, Eileen O'Neill Burke, has said she also supports the end of cash bail.

But on Monday, the newly anointed state's attorney pledged to seek pretrial detention for anyone charged with serious violent crimes — such as murder, carjacking and armed robbery — along with people accused of possessing “extended magazines” or “switch” devices that convert handguns into automatic weapons.

“Let me be clear: Weapons of war, violence against the vulnerable and rampant harm to our communities will not be tolerated,” O’Neill Burke said in a statement.

According to Foxx’s data, there was a 95% pretrial detention rate in murder cases under her tenure, 77% in robbery cases and 65% in gun possession cases. The data didn't break down pretrial detention rates in cases involving robberies with weapons or gun cases involving switches or extended magazines.