Our second concern has been whether Foxx wants to be a crime-buster or public defender (actually an appointed post). When she debated Pfannkuche before the Tribune Editorial Board, Foxx appeared more focused than she was in her primary campaign on the horrific killings by the hundreds in poor Chicago neighborhoods each year. We want a state's attorney who'll focus on police misconduct, fairness to defendants and incarceration rates of the guilty. But if Foxx is elected, her chief challenge will be persuading crime-ravaged communities to cooperate with law enforcement and curtail the slaughter of so many youths.