Kim Foxx facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kim Foxx
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| Cook County State's Attorney | |
| In office December 1, 2016 – December 1, 2024 |
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| Preceded by | Anita Alvarez |
| Succeeded by | Eileen O'Neill Burke |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 9, 1972 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Kelley Foxx
(m. 2001) |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | Southern Illinois University (BA, JD) |
Kimberly M. Foxx (born April 9, 1972) is an American politician. She served as the Cook County State's Attorney for Cook County, Illinois. This job is like being the main prosecutor for a large area. She held this position from 2016 to 2024.
As State's Attorney, she managed one of the biggest prosecutor's offices in the United States. It had about 700 lawyers and 1,100 other team members. In 2016, she won the election for this role. She was chosen again in 2020. In 2023, she decided not to run for re-election in 2024.
Kim Foxx ran for office promising to make changes to the justice system. People often called her a "reform-minded" or "progressive" prosecutor. She is the second African American person to hold this important job.
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Early Life and Education
Kim Foxx was born in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in the Cabrini-Green Homes, which was a housing project. Her mother and grandmother raised her.
She went to LaSalle Language Academy and then graduated from Lincoln Park High School in 1990. She studied political science at Southern Illinois University. Later, she earned her law degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law.
Early Career in Law and Government
After finishing law school, Kim Foxx worked as an assistant public guardian for three years. In this role, she helped protect children.
Then, she became an Assistant State's Attorney in Cook County. She worked there for 12 years. During this time, she handled cases about child protection and young offenders.
In 2013, she started working for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. She focused on issues related to the justice system. Later, she became President Preckwinkle's chief of staff until 2016.
Running for State's Attorney
2016 Election Campaign
In September 2015, Kim Foxx announced she would run for Cook County State's Attorney. She wanted to challenge the person who held the job at the time, Anita Alvarez.
Foxx promised to make changes to the justice system. She talked about sending people who committed minor crimes to treatment programs instead of prison. She also wanted to fix cases where people were wrongly convicted. And she aimed to deal more strongly with police who acted improperly.
During the campaign, the current State's Attorney faced questions about how she handled a case involving a police officer. Foxx said she would do better on police accountability and wrongful convictions.
In March 2016, Kim Foxx won the primary election with 58% of the votes. This meant she would represent the Democratic Party. In November, she won the main election with 72% of the votes.
2020 Re-election Campaign
On November 19, 2019, Foxx announced she would run for re-election. She won the primary election in March 2020 with 50.19% of the votes.
In the general election on November 3, 2020, she won against her Republican opponent. She received 54.1% of the votes and was re-elected for another four-year term.
As Cook County State's Attorney (2016–2024)
Changes to Bail and Pretrial Rules
In March 2017, soon after taking office, Foxx made a big change. Her office would no longer try to keep people in jail just because they couldn't pay a small amount of bail. Bail is money paid to the court to ensure someone returns for their trial.
She supported a new law that would remove the need to pay cash bail for minor crimes. Her office also decided not to ask for people to be held in jail before trial for low-level, non-violent offenses.
Making Information Public
In March 2018, Foxx's office started an open data portal. This is a website where they shared six years of information about serious criminal cases. Now, anyone can see data about how cases are started, handled, and sentenced. This helps make the justice system more transparent.
Reducing Jail Time
Reports showed that the number of people sent to prison in Cook County went down. This happened by 2.5% from 2016 to 2017, and by 19% from 2017 to 2018.
Foxx also directed her office not to treat shoplifting cases under $1,000 as serious felonies.
Fixing Wrongful Convictions
In October 2019, Foxx suggested adding more people to the Conviction Integrity Unit. This unit works to review old cases and fix wrongful convictions. This expansion was partly to address cases where people claimed they were tortured by a former police commander.
By February 2020, this unit had helped overturn 95 convictions. These cases were linked to a former police sergeant who was found to have acted improperly.
Policies During Protests
In 2020, during the George Floyd protests, Foxx made a policy for her department. She told prosecutors to treat peaceful protesters differently from people who caused harm. The policy suggested dismissing charges for minor offenses like disorderly conduct during protests. It also made it harder to pursue more serious charges without clear video evidence.
Personal Life
Kim Foxx has been married to Kelley Foxx since 2001. They have four daughters together.
Images for kids
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Kim Foxx
