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State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announces support for legalizing pot, calls for expunging misdemeanor convictions

Announcing her support for legalizing marijuana in Illinois, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said her office plans to help expunge all misdemeanor marijuana convictions in an attempt to help those hurt by the criminal record.

Foxx’s comments came during a luncheon speech before the City Club of Chicago at which she touted improvements to her office since taking over in December 2016.

The speech marked the first time that Cook County’s top prosecutor responsible for enforcing the state’s drug laws had voiced support for legalizing marijuana.

“I also believe that we … must do it while acknowledging the public health and public safety ramifications,” she said as her political benefactor, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is running for Chicago mayor, looked on from a front table.

“I do not believe that we can rush to get legalization done for expediency’s sake and certainly not for revenue’s sake,” said Foxx, calling for a “thoughtful” approach.

Her announcement comes as new Gov. J. B. Pritzker has vowed to decriminalize, tax and regulate the sale of recreational marijuana.

Foxx said that expunging the misdemeanor records would aim to help those who lose out on jobs or housing because of their marijuana convictions.

“Failing to take action that provides relief to those who already have marijuana convictions is not justice,” she told the sold-out crowd that included other elected officials, police and prosecutors from her office.

Following her speech, Foxx told reporters that while the state’s attorney’s office had stopped prosecuting most misdemeanor marijuana cases under predecessor Anita Alvarez, her office will now move the few remaining small-time pot charges to drug diversion programs — or not file them at all.

With potentially tens of thousands of county residents with misdemeanor marijuana convictions from over the years, Foxx said her office had already begun reaching out to community organizations to help identify those who would qualify to have their records expunged.

Those that qualified could seek to have those records cleared through Foxx’s office, not the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office, which keeps those records, she said.

Foxx warned that users of marijuana still need to realize that possession remains illegal under state law, giving police the authority to make arrests.

In touting her record, Foxx said she is focused on rebuilding trust in communities, improving efficiency within her office and taking a renewed focus on violent crime that she said resulted in her office’s conviction rate improving by 30 percent in 2018.

With the shift in focus to violent felonies, gun possession charges have become her office’s most prosecuted felony, Foxx said.

Foxx also noted the launch of a violent crimes investigation unit that she said would use data to identify communities in trouble and focus on “long-term investigations that address a small population of individuals that are driving the most violence.”

She also took pride in throwing out 68 felony convictions during her term, attributing some of those reversals to “corrupt police officers” who had targeted poor minorities living in public housing.

Foxx’s endorsement of legalization was a major symbolic swing after decades of stern local adherence to drug laws, though previous state’s attorneys had championed lower penalties for pot possession.

Chicago lawmakers decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2012. Illinois lawmakers followed suit in 2016.

In the 1960s, possession of even one joint under Illinois law was a felony with a mandatory prison sentence. By 1970, a misdemeanor possession charge of 2.5 grams of marijuana could yield a one-year sentence in county jail and a $1,000 fine, while a felony conviction was punishable up to 10 years in prison, according to a Tribune article from that time.

But public opinion has swayed in favor of marijuana legalization over the decades, with 62 percent of Americans in support as of last October, a five-fold increase from 12 percent in 1969, according to the Pew Research Center.

Still, some remain wary about the shift toward legalization, particularly those in law enforcement.

“Most police leaders look at this as inevitable,” said Jim Bueermann, formerly president of the National Police Foundation and a former police chief. “Whether it’s a good idea, the jury is still out on that question.”

Bueermann pointed to safety issues such as impaired driving and noted that officers do not yet have a reliable way of roadside testing for marijuana use. He also spoke of concern about an increased risk of robbery that comes with infusions of high-cash businesses such as marijuana dispensaries.

“It’s too new,” he said. “There’s not enough research.”

A spokesman for Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson did not return calls for reaction to Foxx’s comments.

Foxx also acknowledged these public safety concerns from area law enforcement about legalizing marijuana.

“We have to make sure that young people are not consuming” or that people aren’t “driving under the influence,” she said.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson commended Foxx’s actions, calling the war on drugs a racist endeavor that often traps people of color.

“Criminal convictions have tattooed a scarlet letter on ex-offenders and served as an obstacle to gainful employment,” he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois also applauded the move, citing the benefits that expunging the misdemeanor records would have on those who have long been saddled with minor drug convictions.

“This is a really good step,” said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for ACLU Illinois

Last year, San Francisco’s district attorney threw out thousands of misdemeanor pot convictions dating back to 1975 while ordering the review and possible resentencing of thousands more people who had been convicted before the passage of California’s legalization law in 2016.

wlee@chicagotribune.com

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @MidnoirCowboy

Twitter @mabuckley88

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