Supporting Members:
Cabrini Green Legal Aid
Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts
Children's Best Interest Project
Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice
Institute For Nonviolence Chicago
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Bluhm Legal Clinic - Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC)
Safer Foundation
Sista I Got You
Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities
Women’s Justice Institute
Illinois Justice Project
2024 COOK COUNTY STATE’S ATTORNEY CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
1. The Cook County State’s Attorney is considered by many to be one of the top law enforcement leaders in Chicago.
• What role do you believe the State’s Attorney’s office plays in the legal ecosystem? What are your goals for the office and how will you measure success?
This election is about ensuring justice throughout Cook County and continuing the progress on the road to reform of our criminal legal system. It’s also about ensuring that residents across Cook County feel safe and we help to address the root causes of crime.
What’s at stake is continuing the progress we’ve made or going backward toward a system that unfairly targets minority populations and focuses on punishment alone rather than addressing the root causes of crime.
The sphere of influence of the Cook County State’s Attorney is much larger than its prosecutorial power. We must focus on prosecutorial deflection rather than simply diversion programs that happen post-arrest. These deflection programs would work to help people avoid contact with the criminal justice system in the first place. Like police, prosecutors need to be a part of our communities if we’re going to build trust in the criminal legal system among residents. I will work with the Chief Judge of Cook County to expand community courts, ensuring that prosecutors are interacting with residents on the ground in their own neighborhoods and holding people accountable in a way that’s visible and tangible for victims and other impacted residents. I will ensure the State’s Attorney’s Office is working with community organizations, victims’ advocacy groups, business community leaders, and other stakeholders to share information and infuse more resources into efforts to interrupt community violence.
Goals:
Protecting our Youth
● As a father, I believe strongly in the importance of accountability for young people, especially those engaged in violent behavior, that is appropriate and that prevents them from picking up a gun or committing other such crimes in the future.
● With children as young as 12 committing carjackings across Cook County, it’s clear that our young people need more early intervention to keep them away from a path of crime.
● I will work to strengthen partnerships with Chicago Public Schools and other Cook County school districts to make sure we’re engaging with young people, connecting high-risk youth with social services and other resources, and steering them away from dangerous behaviors.
Being a Presence in Communities
● Like police, prosecutors need to be a presence in communities if we’re going to build trust in the criminal justice system among residents.
● I will work with the Chief Judge of Cook County to expand community courts, ensuring that prosecutors are interacting with residents on the ground in their neighborhoods and holding people accountable in a way that’s visible and tangible for victims and other impacted residents.
● I will ensure the State’s Attorney’s Office is working with community organizations, business community leaders, and other stakeholders to share information and infuse more resources into efforts to interrupt community violence.
Protecting Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victims
● I am committed to protecting the most vulnerable members of our community, including survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. I will work tirelessly to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.
● I will collaborate with local organizations and law enforcement to strengthen protections for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and hold abusers accountable.
● My vision for the State's Attorney's Office includes a comprehensive approach to public safety, in which I will prioritize the prosecution of domestic violence and sexual assault cases and work to ensure survivors receive the protection and support they deserve.
Taking on Crime
● I will be proactive in preventing gun violence and other violent crimes.
● I’ll team up with state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, the Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms Bureau, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and others to bring charges and hold the most dangerous offenders accountable.
● As a former prosecutor in the Special Prosecutions unit myself, I know that beefing up Special Prosecutions will help ensure there are additional resources to prosecute retail theft, gun crimes and carjackings and more.
● I will work with federal partners to get to the source of gun crimes–the traffickers moving weapons from states like Florida, Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky, across Illinois’ borders.
Strengthening Prosecutorial Teams
● As a former Assistant State’s Attorney, I know that the talented and dedicated prosecutors who choose to stand up and fight for justice for victims by working in the State’s Attorney’s Office are second to none. But they need resources and more capacity.
● I will commit additional resources to the recruitment and retention of well-trained and highly skilled prosecutors to the State’s Attorney’s Office to ensure the staff is operating at full strength.
● As State’s Attorney, I will bring my extensive managerial experience to the office, making sure it’s a healthy and appealing work environment that keeps talented attorneys on board throughout their careers.
2. Eight years ago, for the first time, the Cook County State’s Attorney began releasing data about the cases in the office, their disposition, and other unidentified information.
• Will you continue to compile and release data? What would you do, if anything, to enhance the transparency of data from the office?
Yes. I will build on current data CCSAO sharing and create the first-ever public Hate Crimes Data Dashboard focusing on racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and transphobia.
We will have transparency reporting on the progress of hate crime cases and the outcomes of prosecutions.
We will develop a comprehensive system for collecting and reporting hate crime data and use this data to identify trends, hotspots, and potential areas for intervention.
3. How would you explain Chicago’s formidable gun violence problem and why it has persisted in Chicago for so long? How will the State’s Attorney’s office work with the full range of system and community partners to address it?
Gun crimes are the most charged and most prosecuted felonies in the state’s attorney right now. I live in a neighborhood where we hear gunshots on our block, so this is personal to me. We have to get guns out of the hands of people who would do us harm. When I’m State’s Attorney, we’ll expand the effort to embed prosecutors with CPD in the top five communities hardest hit by gun violence. I’ll make sure the people using guns are detained and aggressively prosecuted. And we’ll work with law enforcement partners to stop the flow of guns into our communities from states like Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
4. There is a widespread understanding that many people who carry guns in this city do so to protect themselves, especially in some of the more historically underserved and unsafe neighborhoods. Not all have, or plan to acquire, the paperwork required to carry guns. They are also living in communities that already receive a lot of police presence and attention, which increases the opportunity to be targeted for arrest. Given this complicated situation, what is your position on the prosecution of gun possession cases? How will you avoid further criminalization of people who are seeking ways to protect themselves?
Prosecutors are given significant power to make good decisions about when to charge a crime, what the proper charge is for a given crime, and in sentencing recommendations. As State's Attorney, the prosecutors that serve in my office will be supported to make good decisions in each one of these areas of the job. Much like larger society, inherent biases are sometimes on display in our criminal justice system – so while there is not necessarily a correlation between racial justice and prosecutorial discretion in every instance, we want our prosecutors to act justly to correct situations where bias may have actively or passively influenced the process before the case lands in our office. It's the State's Attorney's job to ensure accountability that is proportional and appropriate to the crime in question. We must use every tool in the toolbox of state statute to ensure appropriate and proportional justice. That means bringing whatever charges are relevant–whether that be retail theft, burglary, or other charges if any related violence takes place.
5. There is alarm in Cook County about increasing youth involvement in criminal activity. Such fears and alarm, we have seen in the past, can lead to a more punitive approach to addressing youth involvement in the justice system. To the extent that young people are engaging in criminal behavior, how should the State’s Attorney’s Office address that? How should youth who are arrested be processed? And if a petition is filed in their case, do you support detention for youth in a central facility or community-based supportive services?
As a father, I believe strongly in the importance of accountability for young people, especially those engaged in violent behavior, that is appropriate and that prevents them from picking up a gun or committing other such crimes in the future. With children as young as 12 committing carjackings across Cook County, it’s clear that our young people need more early intervention to keep them away from a path of crime. I will work to strengthen partnerships with Chicago Public Schools and other Cook County school districts to make sure we’re engaging with young people, connecting high-risk youth with social services and other resources, and steering them away from dangerous behavior. Additionally, we must end law enforcement’s use of manipulative interrogation practices on young people. Such practices diminish the community's trust in law enforcement and may lead to community members not cooperating with law enforcement during investigations.
Of course, we want to aim to divert youth to community-based supportive services wherever possible, while also ensuring those who have committed violence are not in a position to cause additional harm.
I would like to partner with the Chicago Public School (CPS) system to invest in prevention programs aimed at addressing the root causes of youth involvement in criminal behavior, such as poverty, lack of education, and lack of positive opportunities.
I would want to reserve detention for youth offenders as a last resort and only when necessary to ensure public safety or address immediate risk factors. We need to prioritize community-based alternatives that provide support and supervision while allowing youth to remain connected to their families and communities.
6. What is your position on deflection and diversion programming?
• Do you support the continued use, and potential expansion, of the First Time Weapons Offender Program?
• For the past several years, Cook County has operated a Deferred Prosecution Program, initiated by the State’s Attorney’s Office. Do you think it has been successful? Should it continue?
I support the continued use and potential expansion of the First Time Weapons Offender Program (FTWOP). This program provides an opportunity for individuals charged with weapons offenses to participate in interventions aimed at addressing underlying issues, such as access to firearms, conflict resolution skills, and community support. By offering alternatives to incarceration and focusing on prevention, FTWOP has the potential to reduce recidivism and promote safer communities.
Additionally, I do believe that the Deferred Prosecution Program (DPP) has been successful. Overall, since 2012-2022 nearly 80% of Cook County defendants have graduated from Alternative Prosecution programs like DPP with nearly 75% of those individuals never to have been rearrested. The data shows that not only do these programs work, but the effect on individual lives are long lasting. I support ongoing evaluation and improvement of the program to ensure its effectiveness and fairness. If it continues to demonstrate positive results, it should certainly be maintained and potentially expanded to reach more individuals in need of support and intervention.
We must focus on prosecutorial deflection rather than simply diversion programs that happen post-arrest. These deflection programs would work to help people avoid contact with the criminal justice system in the first place.
I’ve met with groups like the IL Prison Project, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, and others that focus on reducing the incarcerated population through diversion programs and deferred prosecution, especially for nonviolent offenders. I believe in expanding these programs. Part of that is simply hiring additional paralegals and staff who can work with local groups to ensure individuals are being screened for eligibility and connected with resources that will help them avoid repeated contact with the criminal legal system. I will work with the Chief Judge of Cook County to expand community courts, ensuring that prosecutors are interacting with residents on the ground in their own neighborhoods and holding people accountable in a way that's visible and tangible for victims and other impacted residents. I will ensure the State's Attorney's Office is working with community organizations, victims' advocacy groups, business community leaders, and other stakeholders to share information and infuse more resources into efforts to interrupt community violence.
I hope to continue and expand the work the current State's Attorney's office is doing with Community Justice Centers, which participated in more than 900 events in 2022 to showcase to communities across Cook County that prosecutors are working to keep people safe, and they should feel safe reporting crimes or get connected to resources to avoid the criminal justice system altogether.
7. What is your position on working with individuals with lived experience to provide diversion programs, as well as using lived experience to inform wider criminal justice policy?
Working with individuals with lived experience is essential for creating a more just and effective criminal justice system. Lived experience brings cultural competence to the development of programs and policies. People who have been directly affected by the criminal justice system often understand the nuances of their communities, including cultural, social, and economic factors that may contribute to criminal involvement. I strongly support and welcome their input and know their collaboration with my office will help build safer communities and improve outcomes for all stakeholders.
8. By eliminating the monetary element, the recently implemented Pretrial Fairness Act created a more equitable system of determining whether someone charged with a crime needs to be detained as a threat to public safety or a risk of flight.
• How successful do you think implementation has been and what is your plan to ensure frontline prosecutors are trained to support continued implementation? Would you work to rollback or change any part of the law?
• Many express fears that the release of people pretrial will lead to an increase in crime, though there is no data to support this claim. Do you share these concerns and criticism and how you will address them?
The Pretrial Fairness Act prevents the criminalization of poverty. I’ll communicate clearly and aggressively to the public that we are prosecuting crimes that need to be prosecuted under the PFA, while fairly considering the circumstances of the crimes people are accused of. My office is committed to requesting pretrial detention when violent crimes are committed or when the offender has a high likelihood of committing additional crimes when on pretrial release. However, we will examine the specific circumstances of each case and proceed accordingly and appropriately. The Pre-Trial Fairness Act has been in effect for about 4 months. We are watching closely to ensure that implementation meets the expectations of the law. We will closely monitor detention hearings to identify training needs and will compile data in an effort to ensure that any changes to PTFA are tailored specifically to address issues such as these that are identified in the implementation process.
9. We’d like to ask you about another critical stakeholder in the legal system – the Public Defender. There has been at least one sharply critical report about the quality of public defense in Illinois, which concluded, in part, that “the state does not have any oversight structure by which to know whether each county’s indigent defense system has a sufficient number of attorneys with the necessary time, training, and resources to provide effective assistance of counsel at every critical stage of a criminal case for each and every indigent defendant.”
• Although the problem is not as acute in Cook County, do you share these concerns about how the state is meeting its obligations? • Do you support increasing resources for public defenders in Illinois? If so, what role would you play in helping to secure necessary resources?
While the problem may not be as acute in Cook County, I understand the importance of addressing systemic issues related to access to legal representation statewide. It is essential to ensure that everyone, regardless of financial means, receives fair and effective legal representation as guaranteed by our constitution.
Yes, I support increasing resources for public defenders in Illinois. Adequate funding for public defender offices is crucial to upholding the principles of justice, fairness, and due process. Insufficient resources can lead to excessive caseloads, limited investigative resources, and inadequate representation, ultimately undermining the integrity of the criminal justice system. I have seen it firsthand when I was in the courtroom, with PDs overworked and understaffed. The whole courtroom suffers for it and that helps no one.
I would partner with the CCPD office in Springfield with state legislators, policymakers, and other stakeholders to raise awareness of the importance of funding public defender offices adequately and to make sure the state budget allocates for their office sufficiently.
10. The current State's Attorney has created a list of police officers who are barred from testimony because of credibility, evidence of the deep problem this jurisdiction has with officers of the law engaging in prohibited behavior.
• Will you maintain that list? How will you support the continued identification, investigation, and prosecution of law enforcement criminal behavior?
Prosecutors and law enforcement must work closely together. For that relationship to be effective at keeping people safe, it must be built on trust and accountability. As State’s Attorney, it is my role to ensure everyone is held accountable–including police officers who have broken the law or otherwise violated public trust. I also support the existence of the Do Not Call List and will maintain it as the State’s Attorney, among other measures.
11. In her tenure, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has overturned more than 200 cases based on allegations of misconduct or new evidence that cast doubt on convictions. Attorneys who have brought cases say there is much more work to be done.
• Do you agree? And how will you support that work? Will you continue to operate the Conviction Review Unit?
I am committed to continuing and expanding the vital work of the Conviction Review Unit. Cook County residents deserve to know that their prosecutor has the judgment to lead in a just fashion, while also ensuring public safety. I am the only candidate in this race with the leadership experience and judgment to ensure this office keeps moving forward–not back. My opponent, Eileen O’Neill Burke, on the other hand, has a troubling track record of poor judgment that has put people in danger.
Recent investigative reporting from WBEZ and the Chicago Tribune exposed that she was the lead prosecutor in the wrongful conviction of an 11-year-old Black boy for murder. The child was arrested illegally, and, according to the reporting, “his confession should have been thrown out because it resulted from coercion.” My opponent even “blasted a state law that limited the judge’s ability to lock up young offenders” during sentencing. Meanwhile, the true killer was never caught. The family of the victim never received justice, and that young man’s life was destroyed by the wrongful conviction. Even today, with the benefit of hindsight, my opponent has expressed no regret over her handling of that case. Voters should find this irresponsible and reckless lack of judgment gravely concerning.
12. What will be your office's approach to restorative justice, including Cook County's existing restorative justice courts? Do you support efforts to transition the restorative justice program to a community-led approach?
As State’s Attorney, I will continue to build on restorative justice policies that ensure we are not criminalizing poverty, and are instead focusing on solutions to connect people to resources and services that are tailored to their needs. We will focus on building relationships with trusted providers in underserved communities to develop resources for restorative practices.
13. Governor Rauner's Bi-partisan commission recommended raising the retail theft threshold, but that was never done by the General Assembly. There is widespread recognition of the need to raise the threshold by many experts and elected officials, to bring Illinois in line with other states. One of Foxx’s first major policy changes was to raise the threshold amount for her office to bring felony charges of retail theft.
• What will your approach to tackling concerns about retail theft be? Do you support a state-wide change?
As State’s Attorney, I am going to take retail theft seriously and bring charges related to it that are appropriate to meet the crime–just like in every other case. We need accountability, and we need to send a clear message that retail theft won’t be tolerated in Cook County. We also are going to not limit our approach to retail theft charges–it’s important that we use every tool in the toolbox of state statute. That means bringing whatever charges are relevant–whether that be retail theft, burglary, or other charges if any related violence takes place.
To be clear, under the current State’s Attorney, retail thefts are prosecuted as a felony at the $1000 threshold. Retail thefts under that threshold are prosecuted at other levels. I will maintain that approach to prosecution.
14. What is your position on the State’s Attorney’s role in clemency and parole petitions? Should the office submit recommendations in these cases and how would you direct staff to assess in which cases should be granted?
Our office should absolutely submit recommendations, especially if through our Conviction Integrity Unit we find reasons to believe that resentencing is not the correct fit, but clemency could be. The input of the State's Attorney's office can offer valuable insights into the circumstances of the case and the impact of potential release on public safety and community well-being.
When it comes to recommendations on parole and clemency, our office should base the recommendation on a thorough review of the case, considering factors such as the nature of the offense, the individual's behavior and rehabilitation efforts, input from victims and their families, and any relevant legal and policy considerations.
15. Specifically, what is your position on filings by criminalized survivors to return to court and be granted sentencing relief, based on a new argument of evidence that they were not able to enter during their criminal proceedings?
I believe it is essential to carefully consider filings by criminalized survivors seeking sentencing relief based on new evidence that was not available during their criminal proceedings. I recognize the unique challenges faced by survivors of crime who may have been criminalized or unfairly treated during the legal process. It is essential to take a survivor-centered approach in reviewing their cases, ensuring that their voices are heard, and their rights are respected. Therefore, any filings by criminalized survivors seeking sentencing relief should undergo a thorough legal review and consideration. This process should involve an assessment of the new evidence presented, its relevance to the case, and its potential impact on the fairness and integrity of the original proceedings.
Finally, in evaluating these filings, it is important to balance the interests of justice, including the rights of survivors, the need for accountability, and the potential impact on public safety. While recognizing the importance of addressing injustices and providing relief to survivors, we must also ensure that any decisions made are fair, equitable, and consistent with the law.