A top Chicago prosecutor preemptively announced that she would not prosecute protesters at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) who are “peaceful,” even if they break the law.
Attorney Kim Foxx announced that she will not prosecute anyone arrested for misdemeanors, such as disorderly conduct, public demonstration, unlawful gathering, criminal trespassing on state-supported land, and curfew charges.
Foxx received a $408,000 donation from far-left mega-donor George Soros in 2016 and has maintained a soft-on-crime policy prescription throughout her tenure. During the 2020 riots sparked by the death of George Floyd, Foxx released hundreds of protesters, according to Breitbart.
During an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Foxx said her soft-on-crime policy has not changed since coming into office.
“Whether it’s the O’Hare 40, or the educators at Northwestern, or the students at the Art Institute. We are consistent. We don’t prosecute these cases,” Foxx said. “So this is not a policy that has been stagnant since 2020. It’s certainly a policy that we will continue to take into the DNC.”
Foxx did vow to prosecute “specific cases involving an act of vandalism or violence.” Sources within the prosecutor’s office say that the Cook County Attorney plans to prosecute offenses including resisting/obstructing arrest, assault, misdemeanor, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated battery to a police officer, reckless conduct, mob action, and obstructing identification.
This ideology runs counter to the statements from the Chicago Police Department (CPD). CPD rewrote its arrest policy in June, specifically to cover the DNC, according to the Associated Press.
Chicago Superintendent Larry Snelling stated the CPD is authorized to conduct “mass arrests” if the DNC protesters get out of hand.
“Mass arrest is the last resort,” Snelling said. “But we know the realities of these types of situations, especially when the number of people we’re expecting to converge upon Chicago is inevitable that there is a possibility for vandalism. There is a possibility for violence, and we are prepared to deal with that.”
