Criminal justice reformers reason that electing a district attorney who will pursue fewer cases will result in fewer prisoners. In 2016, Kim Foxx unseated an incumbent in Cook County, Il., the nation’s second-largest local prosecutor’s office, vowing to reduce unnecessary prosecutions for low-level, non-violent crimes. One year into her term, Foxx 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.
An analysis by The Marshall Project, The Pudding, and The Chicago Reporter provides the first detailed look at the more than 35,000 cases that Foxx’s office handles every year. Since she took office, Foxx 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’s office is exercising discretion in the way it handles drug cases, which skip the felony review process and go directly to courts. Cook County prosecutors have dismissed an additional 2,300 drug cases that, under Alvarez, would have otherwise gone to trial—or ended in a plea. The defendants in some cases have been diverted to treatment and counseling that led to their charges being dropped. In trying to implement policy changes, Foxx has faced resistance, especially from police unions. The analysis of Foxx’s policies offers one quantitative way to evaluate what concrete differences progressive prosecutors can make, particularly because policy decisions have historically been “driven by anecdote,” Foxx says.