Illinois Domestic Violence Provides Report: Lack of Support for Victims

Jasmine was drugged and raped by her ex-boyfriend in October 2019. Today, she is a domestic violence survivor, but no thanks to the “compounded harms she experienced at the hands of her abuser, law enforcement and former community members,” she said as part of the July 11 release of the 2022 edition of “Measuring Safety,” by The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence. The Network is a collective of 40+ non-profit organizations that serve people affected by gender-based violence in Chicagoland.

Jasmine went to break up with her boyfriend, but instead ended up comforting him about his friend who had committed suicide a week earlier. That’s when it happened.

“That night irreparably changed my life forever. I could barely keep my eyes open while telling him to stop until I had completely passed out.” She said she felt dead inside when she left the next morning, went straight home, crawled into bed and cried.

Mustering up strength a few days later, Jasmine called her abuser, who shifted the blame onto Jasmine herself. A month later, Jasmine opened up to her mom, who took her to file a police report.

Initial engagement with her case was positive. The assigned officer seemed compassionate and understanding, and the detective said he’d do everything he could. Three months later, in January, an officer went to visit her abuser – and to the wrong house. No one ever looked for her rapist again.

Jasmine called the detective weekly for updates, to no avail. She contacted every organization at her disposal, including the state attorney’s office, only to be turned away. A legal advocacy group refused to take her on because they represented her abuser. Then, Jasmine was introduced to Resilience through YWCA and was given an initial advocate who reached out to Jasmine’s detective weekly. The detective, though, never returned calls or was always “on vacation.”

Jasmine gave evidence, phone numbers, jobs, locations to the police, but received no help. “Resilience has literally been the only organization alongside YWCA to provide me with trauma and therapy and a lawyer to acquire a restraining order over the course of seven arduous months,” she said.

The Network’s “Measuring Safety” report says that while calls to the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline increased 9% (32,000 contacts) in 2021, the number of survivors reaching out to law enforcement dropped 5% in the last year. The Network attributes the decline to survivors’ adverse experiences with law enforcement, the legal system, and the family regulation system.

For its part, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) website describes a “Chicago Response” protocol that involves the CPD, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the Mayor’s Office on Domestic Violence, as well as domestic violence liaison officers and domestic violence subcommittees for the advisory councils in each of CPD’s 25 districts.

Under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act, responding officers are supposed to take certain actions, such as advising the victim of the importance of seeking medical attention and preserving evidence; providing the victim and dependents with transportation to a medical facility or place of safety and inventorying any weapons used, according to the Chicago Response. A Domestic Incident Notice (DIN), also available in Spanish, Polish and Braille, provides a victim information on how to obtain an order of protection and how to contact the Domestic Violence Help Line.

Police have tried to triage domestic violence victims themselves, but at the suggestion of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, CPD began to engage social service agencies in 2016 to make it happen more quickly, CPD Domestic Violence Operations Coordinator Aileen Robinson told StreetWise in 2019 (October 28-November 3, Vol 27, No. 43). The partnership began with Family Rescue in the Grand Crossing and South Chicago Districts (3rd and 4th) and then with Connections for Abused Women and their Children (CAWC) in the Shakespeare (14th) District.

More specific than just handing a victim a list of phone numbers, police ask the victims’ permission to give their names to service agencies, said CAWC Executive Director Stephanie Love-Patterson. They also ask them specific questions to see whether the violence against them is increasing, CPD’s Robinson said. Was a weapon or drugs involved? Was an ambulance called, or did they go to the hospital? Did the aggressor attempt to choke them – which could not only cause a stroke if a blood clot broke loose, but which indicates a 750% greater future likelihood of homicide.

The CPD program has expanded, with Robinson still in charge.

The Network report also examined subsidized housing and public benefits; it found that survivors are often unable to access these resources. Only 86 public housing applicants who are domestic violence survivors were housed in 2022, fewer than 6% of the survivors who applied.

Safe housing can be a barrier for many gender-based violence survivors. In 2021, 4,452 survivors in Illinois were turned away from domestic violence shelters due to lack of space. With recent increases in State and City funding, many providers are working to expand the number of beds they can offer.

Demonstrating the gravity of economic need, nearly half (42%) of Illinois survivors last year reported an income of $500 or less per month. A small number of flexible financial assistance programs exist in Chicagoland, though inconsistent sources of funding mean these are often unavailable. The Network’s Crisis Response Fund distributed $463,214 in 2020 to support survivors with housing, utilities, and other barriers to accessing safety.

“Addressing the survivor as a whole person—one who is parenting, growing up surrounded by violence, in need of economic assistance, and may require mental or physical health care—is critical,” says Olivia Farrell, director of policy, advocacy and research at The Network.

Drawing on data from survivor interviews, gender-based violence service providers, and public sector agencies, including the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline, local and state police, the Department of Children and Family Services, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, the Cook County Department of Public Health, and the Chicago Housing Authority, the report makes four recommendations:

• Increased financial investments in gender-based violence services. Illinois and the City of Chicago made historic investments of $70.9 million and $35 million, respectively, in work to eliminate gender-based violence in 2021, which should be sustained to ensure the programs that are working can be funded and expanded.

• Prioritized direct, community-based services. Communitybased services are trauma-informed and wrap childcare, economic assistance and community-building around the victim.

• Awareness campaigns to connect survivors to communitybased resources. Ninety percent of survivors interviewed were unfamiliar with them.

• Increased gender-based violence data collection and availability. Limited data collection means this sector is often unable to support the full range of survivors’ needs and successfully advocate for these needs.