A new Cook County state’s attorney inherits the criminal problems exacerbated by her predecessor, Kim Foxx. Eileen O’Neill Burke seems ready to fight crime without giving up on efforts to be fair to minority accusers. Here’s what they should do.

Murders, carjackings and other crimes have been on Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s progressive agenda, leaving her successor with plenty of challenges and issues to deal with.

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

And what should he do to repair the damage to public safety and resident confidence in criminal prosecutions?

Burke can make Chicago and Cook County safer through reforms such as filing more felony charges, including for low-level offenses such as driving with an expired license and retail theft. She may use fewer diversions.

Kim Foxx’s Legacy as a Progressive Prosecutor

Foxx promised reform including release, diversion and non-execution. It prioritized removal or non-execution for many nonviolent offenders.

In 2020 she ensured 45% the suspended license charges were dismissed for prosecution. She declined felony charges for driving with a suspended license twice as often as her predecessor.

Foxx also raised the threshold for prosecution for felony retail theft to over $1,000even though Illinois has a threshold of $300 or more. A year before Foxx took office, 29% of retail theft were prosecuted as felonies. Just a year later 10% they were

Shoplifting increased significantly under Foxx, according to a June 2024 report report from the Criminal Justice Council.

According to an analysis carried out by The Marshall ProjectFoxx refused to pursue “more than 5,000 cases that were allegedly pursued by former State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.” Most of this reduction was due to “abandoning the prosecution of low-level theft and drug trafficking offenses and … diverting more cases to alternative treatment programs.”

Class 4 narcotics charges accounted for 28.5 percent of felony charges in 2019. Under Foxx, that dropped to 16.5 percent in 2021, while offenders sent to diversion programs increased 30 percent.

Foxx dropped the felony charges 29.9% of the defendants, compared to Alvarez who got away with them compared to 19.4%. In November 2016, 1,000 Cook County defendants went to jail, but in November 2021 there were only 500, under Foxx.

Murders grew up significantly under Foxx, hitting Chicago’s low-income and minority neighborhoods hardest. Blacks in Chicago are more than 20 times more likely to be homicide victims than whites in Chicago.

It was an epic failure of Foxx’s policies benefit “Poor, Black and Brown Communities.”

What to expect from Burke

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

Like a candidateBurke said he claimed:

1. provision SAFE-T Act cash bail removal in Illinois. Burke argued that the new system allows pretrial detention to be determined based on a person’s assessed danger to the community, rather than economic circumstances.
2. An “office of restorative justice” that focuses on addressing “the root problems that lead to criminal behavior rather than resorting to detention.” She suggested specialized courts suited to the circumstances of juveniles, veterans and those suffering from addiction or mental illness.
3. Reforms in the juvenile justice system to provide apprenticeships, community engagement, educational enrichment and job training to at-risk youth.
4. A “choice protection unit” in the state attorney’s office to prevent “insidious” out-of-state actors from preventing women from obtaining abortions in Cook County or Illinois.
5. Deprioritizing prosecutions related to cannabis, driving or sex work violations, retroactive sentencing that “reduces the length of time eligible incarcerated persons stay” and reclassifying low-level drug possession as a misdemeanor.

Burke pledged to lower the prosecution threshold for felony retail theft to $300 under state law, from $1,000 under Foxx.

Burke too support increasing penalties for illegal gun possession, as well as the use of extended or interrupting magazines. She committed to pursuing more pretrial arrests for gun crimes as well as violent crimes from the CTA, pledge to “seek detention every time someone used a gun in a violent crime – armed robbery, carjacking.”

How Burke Can 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 measures that include:

1. Creating an environment that allows prosecutors to do their jobs. Foxx oversaw incredibly high turnover rates in the state’s attorney’s office, with hundreds of employees resigning within months due to dissatisfaction with her leadership.
2. He kept his promise to lower the prosecution threshold for felony theft to $300.
3. Only diversion programs with a proven track record follow.
4. Restore to pre-Foxx levels the prosecution dismissal rate for driving with an expired or suspended license and other traffic violations. Research from Manhattan Institute established a link between routine driving or traffic violations and much more serious crimes.
5. Restoration the rate of crime charges being deposited at pre-pandemic levels. As of April 2020, approximately 500 criminal charges have been filed, compared to 2,000–3,000 filed per month before the pandemic, as a result of Foxx’s office declining to prosecute.

Conclusion

Almost two thirds of Chicagoans are concerned about public safety where they live, and nearly half believe public safety is worse in Chicago than anywhere else in the country. With Foxx refusing to seek a third term, Cook County voters decided to go in a different direction on crime and public safety by electing Burke. By simply enforcing the law as written and restoring pre-Foxx and pre-pandemic prosecution policies, Burke can fulfill the people’s mandate.