1. Kimberly M Foxx is an American politician who served as State's Attorney for Cook County, Illinois from 2016 to 2024.
26 Facts About Kim Foxx
1. 2.
Kim Foxx managed the second largest prosecutor's office in the United States, consisting of approximately 700 attorneys and 1,100 employees.
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Kim Foxx is the second African American, after Cecil A Partee, to hold this position.
4.
Kim Foxx earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Southern Illinois University, and a JD degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law.
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Kim Foxx is a member of the board of trustees of Adler University.
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Kim Foxx then worked as Assistant State's Attorney in Cook County for 12 years, joining during Richard A Devine's tenure as State's Attorney.
7.
Kim Foxx was later promoted to chief of staff for Preckwinkle, and served in that role until 2016.
8.
In September 2015, Kim Foxx announced that she would challenge incumbent Anita Alvarez in the 2016 election for Cook County State's Attorney.
9.
Kim Foxx faced a second challenger, former federal and state prosecutor Donna More.
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Kim Foxx campaigned on a platform of criminal justice reform, emphasizing policies such as diverting low-level offenders to treatment programs rather than prisons, address wrongful convictions, and dealing more aggressively with police misconduct.
11.
Kim Foxx criticized Alvarez for her performance on the issues of police accountability and wrongful convictions.
12.
Kim Foxx announced on November 19,2019, that she would run for re-election.
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Kim Foxx faced three competitors in the Democratic Party primary: Bill Conway, Bob Fioretti, and Donna More.
14.
Ahead of the primary, Kim Foxx had been endorsed by several progressive organizations, labor unions, and state-wide elected officials.
15.
In March 2017, shortly after taking office, Kim Foxx announced that the State's Attorney's office would no longer pursue keeping certain detainees in jail because they are unable to post the bail amount of $1000.
16.
Kim Foxx expressed support for the proposed Bail Reform Act, testifying in favor of it at the Illinois General Assembly despite opposition to the bill from the Illinois State's Attorneys' Association.
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That same month, Kim Foxx's office announced that prosecutors would no longer request pretrial detention for those charged with low-level nonviolent offenses in court.
18.
In March 2018, Kim Foxx's office launched an open data portal and released 6 years of data on felony criminal cases.
19.
Early in her first term, Kim Foxx established a program called the Gun Crimes Strategies Unit, which placed specially trained prosecutors directly in police districts.
20.
In January 2019, Kim Foxx announced her support for the proposed legalization of recreational marijuana use in Illinois, and helped to write the provisions of the law pertaining to past convictions.
21.
The law passed in May 2019, and later that year, Kim Foxx's office initiated the expungement of 1,012 low-level nonviolent marijuana convictions as allowed by the new law.
22.
Kim Foxx's office stated that it would attempt to use the maximum authority allowed by the law to overturn low-level convictions, and partnered with the nonprofit organization Code for America to develop procedures for the conviction relief process.
23.
In October 2019, as part of her budget proposal to the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Kim Foxx proposed expanding the Conviction Integrity Unit in the State's Attorney's office by adding 10 new units.
24.
On February 19,2019, Kim Foxx announced that she had recused herself from the Jussie Smollett hate crime investigation.
25.
Kim Foxx was criticized by the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association and the National District Attorneys Association.
26.
Kim Foxx has been married to Kelley Foxx since 2001.