Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx and the University of Chicago Crime Lab hosted a discussion on the state of low-level drug offenses in Cook County and the prosecutor’s role in addressing addiction. Dan Satterberg, the Chief Prosecutor of King County in Washington, shared his experience of connecting more people to mental health and addiction treatment in lieu of incarceration. Bolstering these social services paved the way for a policy shift in his office, which no longer prosecutes most non-violent cases of possession of small amounts of illegal controlled substances.
“We have an important opportunity in Cook County to improve the way we support individuals with unmet substance abuse and mental health needs. We are encouraged by efforts already underway to reduce the criminal justice system exposure for this population and we are looking forward to continued partnership with the State’s Attorney’s Office on this work,” said Roseanna Ander, Founding Executive Director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab.
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