By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
If you need a nudge to care about who will replace Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in next year’s election, consider the following robbery spree that occurred in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day:
Or consider the below video, obtained by CWB, of a September robbery in Wicker Park that not only threatened a life, but is certain to traumatize a woman for life:
Criminals are victimizing Chicagoans with impunity. Robberies have spiked 50% since June alone and now total 1,200 per month, while major crimes will hit a post-covid high of nearly 80,000 in 2023. (See appendix for details on both statistics.)
The reasons for the crime spike are several, but one major contributor is this: there are few consequences, if any, for committing crimes in Chicago. Much of that blame resides with the failure of the Cook County State’s Attorney office to prosecute criminals, making next year’s race to replace Foxx the most consequential of the year.
For sure, the blame for the increase in crime extends far beyond Foxx’s office. Mayoral failure to support the police – instead, often antagonizing it – has destroyed police morale and policing. City laws also no longer allow police to chase criminals, whether by foot or by car, further handcuffing their ability to stop crime. All that’s helped push arrest rates for major crimes to a nearly negligible 4.5%. Of the 69,500 major crimes reported in Chicago so far this year, just 3,100 have resulted in an arrest. Just a few years ago it was double that rate at 10% – still dismal, but higher.
Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans actions to decarcerate have also helped perpetuate crime. His no-bail, low-cash-bail “reforms” of 2017 and his decriminalization efforts have helped empty Cook County jails by half in the last decade, to 40-year lows. The crimes committed by those out awaiting trial are now well documented, as we described in a piece last year.
But there’s no denying that Foxx’s failure to prosecute has contributed to Chicago’s problems. By her third year in office in 2020, she had “dropped felony cases involving charges of murder and other serious offenses at a higher rate than her predecessor, according to a Tribune analysis…her office dropped all charges against 29.9% of felony defendants, a dramatic increase over her predecessor. For the last three years of Anita Alvarez’s tenure, the rate was 19.4%.”
Foxx also pushed for non-cash bail for lower-level offenses, while raising the bar for a felony prosecution to $1,000 from $300 for stolen goods. From Foxx’s reelection website: “Our criminal justice system has treated drug offenders, non-violent, and the mentally ill as if they are violent offenders. When I took office, we decided a change needed to take place. We prioritized violent crime and keeping our communities safe, rather than using resources to prosecute non-violent, low-level offenders.”
But as Rafael Mangual points out in the City Journal, the nonviolent crime and the nonviolent offender are myths. Try to stop someone from committing a nonviolent crime, like stealing merchandise from a store, and see how nonviolent he really is. And how many offenders of nonviolent crimes are being emboldened in Chicago by the absence of arrests and prosecutions, to commit more aggressive crimes?
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Kim Foxx is not running for re-election so the question is, will Chicago and Cook County elect someone who’s ready to call criminals what they are, criminals? Or will we have a repeat of the recent mayoral election, where Chicagoans ended up electing someone even more radical than Lori Lightfoot?
Count on more candidates to join the Cook County State Attorney’s race, but here are the three who have announced so far:
Dem. Elileen O’Neill Burke: https://www.justiceforcookcounty.com/
Dem. Clayton Harris III: https://www.claytonharrisforcook.com/
Rep. Robert Fioretti: https://www.fiorettiforcook.com/
Get yourself educated and ask yourself, who will stop treating criminals like victims and finally care about the actual victims of crime?
Read more from Wirepoints:
- 2023 Chicago crime to hit post-covid record, up nearly 60 percent over 2019
- Illinois, Chicago set to become more dangerous as cash bail ends
- Chicago criminals have green light to rob, loot, burgle as odds of punishment collapse to near zero.
- Red states, blue cities: Who’s to blame for America’s homicide crisis – Wirepoints Special Report
Appendix
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
A Republican stands as much of a chance of getting elected to any office in Chicago as a snowball in hell.
Thus Chicago’s hopelessness.
I hear George Santos will be looking for a job. The most untrustworthy person in politics who has never told the truth. Perfect fit for Chicago politics. LOL?
Vote for the Republican. Period. All of the democrats are various flavors of Kimm Foxx.
Find us another Republican candidate than RINO Fioretti, Preckwinkle’s spoiler..
There is no longer any difference between the parties, just look at Washington. Democrats and Republicans are in lock step on the things the globalists control. We are about to go from 33 trillion in debt to 34 trillion in just 30 days. The trajectory of our economic downfall is acceleration to a trillion per 30 days, it won’t slow down, or be stopped, it will only accelerate. in another area Israel literally owns every politician in Washington dem or republican. Neither party works for us, they work for the globalists. When Israel snaps its fingers they all jump, when… Read more »
These people stay in office because only liberals or special interest people vote. It will never ger bad enough for the above voters to throw these useless politicians out of office. The average Joe sixpack must get out and vote. If eighty or ninety percent of voters would actually vote, these libs would be out of office. With that many people voting it would be difficult for dems to cheat in the said elections. Right now, the only people fed up with these politicians are the ones leaving Illinois. The only people left are the ones who don’t vote or accept… Read more »
Only liberals and special interest people vote because everyone else gets a beat down every time they pick up their smartphone. Psycholgical beatdowns are demoralizing and deter action. Never mind the fact that we have a 100% majority against muggings and illegal gun violence. I wouldn’t exactly call opposition incompetent. Duplicitous is a better adjective. Right wing comment sections play a critical part in convincing people they’re all alone and resistance is futile. There’s very well grounded science behind human decision making and professional trolls are doing a great job exploiting it. Education, morale and cohesion are how you win… Read more »
Maybe… And yet, each election, I get off my arse and read a bit about the candidates and walk over to my polling place – that is in such a garbage area that I need to be buzzed in – and vote. It is simply a matter of being smart enough to understand the value of the sacrifice many endured so that I have the RIGHT to pull the lever. If people stopped staring at their phones or their navels, and practiced a moment of awareness and gratitude, we wouldn’t be where we are. Hard to conceive of lib/progressive/dems as… Read more »
The system is designed so that only the most politically active participate. Did you know that Chicago had FOUR elections in a 12 month period last year? FOUR!!! The June 2022 primary, the November 2022 election, February 2023 mayoral and aldermanic, and the April runoff! Who can keep up with this nonsense but for the most political active! I can barely tell you how our local sports teams are doing (bad) but I’m supposed to know the intricacies of four elections in twelve months? Why can’t we just vote once or maybe twice during normal election years, like most states!… Read more »
Best kind of money, no State or Federal Taxes. Get your money the same day in full.
Crime pays in the Chitty.
Am I the only person that is somewhat concerned that while the CPD can no longer persue criminals, the ISP has the leverage to do so? I’m sure the ISP are ranks are fine, upright and top notch LEO’s , but what is stopping them from eventually being supplanted by a national police force? They had one in Germany in the 30’s. They were called the Gestapo. Ditto Russia of that same point in time.
I thought your neighborhood was just fine! Aren’t you one of the folks encouraging people to run away and move to Indiana?
What are you going to do to stop them? The burden rests on all of us. We’re stronger if we stick together. I’m going to make some phone calls and participate in the process.
Looking to move east asap, which is why I still have concerns re the IL Marxist Clown Show. Unlike Pritzger and Raoul, I wouldn’t meddle in another state’s political affairs. I encourage every taxpayer to leave and enjoy a lower cost of living and safer life instead of feeding the bloated corpse that is the IL Dem party with more layers of bureaucracy than a 50 lb bag of onions.
We need a well known , respected Chicago celebrity like Doug Ojank or Gary Fencuc of the 1980s Chi Bears to run and win for DA and mayor .
Voters don t recognize policy wonks
A woman was victimized. The female voting block far and large is the voting block that puts woke politicians as well as woke thought, policies, and philosophy into our laws, justice and enforcement and education. This is especially true with North suburban female voters, the ones with rainbow and Ukraine and Israel flags on their lawns. These are the women also raising a generation of woke kids. This last point is why we are doomed. I know some may say this is a very sexist post. But I’m just calling balls and strikes.
West suburban female voters aren’t much different.
Luckily their male children aren’t becoming very woke. Many young men these days are tending to be less woke than their leftist parents. They exercise and work out a lot, they are disgusted by the insanely leftist ugly trigglypuffs of the world, and they know that they are on now on a lower rung of the social hierarchy. This isn’t readily apparent from the college campuses but those are the just the most violent and loudest people. But it’s a reality. Even Gavin Newsom the governor of California expressed concern that his own son was secretly listening to Joe Rogan… Read more »
Joe Rogan yes, but Jordan Peterson is a closet wokester, talks a good game but outside his published videos, personally and in private he is totally on board with the woke agenda.
This issue has gotten much bigger than just Crimesha. She was the tip of the spear. However, every Democrat politician throughout the state is now complicit in the coddling of criminals. The “Safe-T” act is a state law, which normalized Crimesha’s actions at the state level. It also put handcuffs on the police.
The only people you can rely on for your protection is yourself. If you have to go into Chicago, or Cook County for that matter, you better be armed and better practice how to protect yourself.
The time will come when we will have enough of those punks and will start fighting back.
Get a concealed carry and start throwing
Lead at those punks. Problem solved!
The problem with this logic is that two or three criminals already have their guns pointed at you. There’s no time to reach for your piece to shoot back, and you’re outnumbered anyways. And when the criminals pat you down, they take your piece too. They got the jump on you first. Conceal carry only works reliably when you get the jump on them first, like you see them coming at you first. But if they got the jump on you, well, it’s too late.
Or just move out of Chicago. Simple as that.
Done and not looking back
The real fun will start when those liberal white housewives start getting robbed. They could make a reality show of the expressions on their faces as they utter “how dare you” to the robbers. I am loling at the thought of it all.
You will get whoever George Soros bankrolls. There will be only one candidate on the ballot.
Let’s not forget that no matter who wins, there are still a passel of judges that have no problem letting repeat offenders walk to await trial. The whole judicial system needs a thorough scrubbing from Springfield on down.
Fioretti only enters political races to dilute republican votes.
I’m betting on the dark horse candidate.
There’s a novel by Leo Tolstoy on this subject.
What is everyone here going to do to prevent the machine from fixing this election?
If the Dems crowd the field again, Harris will win. It’ll be an uphill battle beating Harris anyway as he has the Cook County machine and CTU backing him.
I’ll take the opposite side of that. 100% of the public is against getting a gun shoved in their face and robbed. Organizing and getting ahead of this before it’s too late is critical.
Jack O’Malley was the last conservative elected county-wide in 1990; and before that, Bernard Casey in 1976. Those were different times.
Most cook county residents haven’t voted for a Republican in their entire life and they’re not about to start now.
Minor correction: I think you may be thinking of Bernard Carey.
Disagree 100% of the public is against getting a gun shoved in their face and robbed. Organizing and getting ahead of this before it’s too late is critical. – FALSE, many victims refuse to press charges because of “equity” and hurt feelings. Police are prevented from doing their actual jobs on a daily basis. CCSA has massive turnover of attorneys, many highly respected. The office is a joke and Kim Foxx has allowed more people to die than any of her predecessors. Many people of color have been shot and killed. Organizing against what? Organizing for who? So Chicago and… Read more »
On the most basic level, most voters in Chicago (and a minority of voters in Cook County) have accepted that getting mugged, carjacked or burglarized is simply a part of life that they learn to live with. And Toni Preckwinkle laughs at crime in ‘good’ neighborhoods. She sees it as a comeuppance for rich yt folk who are now only dealing with that black and brown folk have been living with for years. Yes, it’s difficult to understand, but you (not you SSofA, you understand) are the dinosaur. You are the person behind the times. Your values of living in… Read more »
“When we [Trib Editorial Board] brought up the now-pervasive fear of violent crime in Chicago during our conversation, and the possible impact of legislation eliminating cash bail, Preckwinkle made the point that residents in more affluent neighborhoods are now getting a taste of what it has been like to live in the Chicago ZIP codes that have heard gunfire and feared carjackings for years. She made that observation with a sardonic chuckle. Fair enough, perhaps. It’s true that life in some neighborhoods long has been plagued by the same issues that folks on the Gold Coast and in Lincoln Park… Read more »
Progressives turned to vengeance as their organizing principle about 20 years ago, when it became clear that their massive welfare policies failed to bring about the utopia they predicted. It’s the natural next step when you’ve spent decades selling victimhood. First, “You deserve a fair share of the prosperity that falls from the sky”. Then, when that doesn’t work, redirect “victims” to focus on revenge.
Could you elaborate on, “ Preckwinkle made the point that residents in more affluent neighborhoods are now getting a taste of what it has been like to live in the Chicago ZIP codes… I would really like to hear more, as I’ve suspected such for years. Are there transcripts? Readers here would appreciate it. Thanks.
Yup, the whole CC dem machine & Chicago progressive ‘new machine’ has already anointed Harris who seems amazingly a Foxx clone. Does Burke have any backers? Fioretti is always the perennial candidate also ran guy, so I don’t see he stands a chance…sorry, but I think we’re screwed as usual.
O’Brien won suburban Cook last election. It wasn’t enough, obviously.