Introduction

The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the operations and activities of the Illinois Statewide Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee (DVFRC) and the regional review teams in 2024.

Legislation

The DVFRC was established as an Ad Hoc Committee of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) Board in 2021, pursuant to the Illinois Domestic Violence Fatality Review Act (the Act).[1]

The DVFRC was formed as a response to the significant effects of domestic violence, specifically fatal or near-fatal violence, on Illinois families, the economy, and other violent crimes. It oversees the establishment of regional domestic violence fatality review teams, providing support through trainings, the gathering of domestic violence fatality data, and technical assistance in the fatality case review process.[2] The DVFRC began meeting in January 2022 and continues to meet regularly to carry out its mandate.

Need for the Work

As documented in the Act, ICJIA “found that … over 100,000 domestic violence offenses were reported to Illinois law enforcement each year between 2005 and 2017,” and “[b]etween 400,000 and nearly 600,000 orders of protection were filed each year” in that same timeframe.[3] Domestic violence can lead to near-fatal and fatal violence. In fact, ICJIA found that “15% of all homicides in this State are connected to domestic violence.”[4] The stark reality of these homicides looks like children without mothers, fathers without children, and entire families gone in Illinois.

The connection, however, between domestic violence and homicides is often missed. For example, initial media reports of homicides may not identify domestic violence as part of the story. Even if prior domestic violence is uncovered, the media may not update that reporting, leaving the public to categorize that story as simply a homicide. In its 2023 Annual Domestic Violence Homicide Report, the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV) noted “there were 94 incidents of domestic violence which led to 120 deaths in 2023.”[5] The Act also found that domestic violence homicide is preventable.

Domestic violence fatality reviews aim to prevent future fatalities and near-fatalities related to domestic violence and to reduce the severity and frequency of domestic violence incidents. They are conducted by multi-disciplinary, multiagency teams of stakeholders who examine various sources of data about the days, months, and years leading up to a person’s death or near death. These data sources may include interviews with family members, friends, or neighbors; child welfare, health, legal, education, or employment records; and witness accounts.

One purpose of the DVFRC and regional review teams is to recommend to the Governor’s Office ways for individual communities as well as state, social services, and justice systems to intervene with families experiencing domestic violence before the near-fatality or fatality occurs. In part, the path to prevention relies on understanding where victims, survivors, and those who cause harm interact with Illinois’ community, social services, and justice systems. The regional review teams, supported by the DVFRC, explore those points in time as well as red flags for violence within the contexts of their lives and relationships.

Organizational Structure

The DVFR initiative consists of a two-tiered structure composed of the DVFRC and regional review teams. The Committee is an extension of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), and the regional review teams are supported by both the project director and the DVFRC.

Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA)

The ICJIA is a state agency dedicated to improving the administration of criminal justice by bringing together key leaders from the justice system and the public to identify critical issues facing the criminal justice system in Illinois. As mentioned, the DVFRC is an Ad Hoc Committee of the ICJIA Board. The DVFRC is required to hire a full-time program manager to carry out its duties.[6] A project director was hired to provide staffing and support to the DVFRC and its regional review teams, as allowed by the Act. The project director also provides administrative support to the DVFRC and technical assistance to regional review teams.

Illinois Statewide Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee (DVFRC)

The DVFRC is comprised of subject matter experts within the Illinois legislature, law enforcement, and the justice system. It also includes specialists in domestic and sexual violence, researchers, and personnel from other agencies and systems that are often involved with persons experiencing domestic violence. As the stakeholders in reducing domestic violence fatalities and near fatalities, these individuals’ presence on the DVFRC is critical to the success of the initiative.

The DVFRC is required to hold meetings at least quarterly and to establish and maintain a website.[7] It is responsible for initially recruiting the regional review teams, shepherding the teams through the onboarding process, and supporting them through training and technical assistance. The Committee also oversees regional review team membership changes to ensure access to ICJIA’s secure storage site for case documentation. Finally, the DVFRC is mandated with compiling policy and system recommendations from each regional review team and making recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly every other year.[8]

Pioneer Teams

The DVFRC established five regional review teams in 2024. This first cohort of teams is referred to as the Pioneer Teams.

These teams include:

  • 3rd Judicial Circuit Regional Review Team – Madison and Bond counties
  • 12th Judicial Circuit Regional Review Team – Will County
  • 17th Judicial Circuit Regional Review Team – Winnebago and Boone counties
  • 19th Judicial Circuit Regional Review Team – Lake County
  • 21st Judicial Circuit Regional Review Team – Kankakee and Iroquois counties

The main responsibilities of the regional review teams are to maintain membership records, create a secure system of maintaining and storing minutes, correspondence and confidential information, and conduct domestic violence fatality or near-fatality case reviews.[9] The Act also notes the creation of a secure system for maintaining information as a regional team responsibility.[10] However, due to its infrastructure and the need to maintain consistency across teams, ICJIA has assumed this responsibility.

Partners

National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative (NDVFRI)

The NDVFRI (https://ndvfri.org/) provides the DVFRC and regional review teams with technical assistance as they engage in the domestic violence fatality reviews.

Illinois Violent Death Reporting System (IVDRS)

The IVDRS (https://sites.northwestern.edu/ivdrs/) is part of the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). The IVDRS provides the DVFR initiative with data related to domestic violence homicides.

Operations and Activities

DVFRC

Meetings

Throughout the 2024 calendar year, the DVFRC held four meetings. Most DVFRC meetings began with a mission moment. The purpose of initiating the meeting with these moments was to remind and center committee members on the significance of the Committee’s purpose. In these mission moments, the co-chairs would present recent media reports of Illinois domestic violence fatality reports. When done, DVFRC members would observe a moment of silence to honor the victims and survivors.

In addition to the mission moments, each meeting included updates from staff and the regional review teams as well as discussion or training on relevant topics. Some of those topics included sections from the Guidebook, the annual and biennial report process, presentations from organizations also involved in domestic violence work, and member reviews of trainings and conferences attended.

Training and Technical Assistance

Throughout 2024, the DVFRC received and provided training and technical assistance to the regional review teams. Committee members were educated on threat assessment and management and on the connection between domestic violence and targeted violence. These specific trainings informed the approaches regional review teams would take when identifying antecedents (red flags) in a particular case review. They also helped to expand the context for individuals reviewing cases in which domestic violence fatalities are thought to occur.

The DVFRC engaged regional review teams in a discussion centered on interviewing victims and survivors, including family members and other stakeholders associated with domestic violence fatalities. In addition, over ten members of the DVFRC and regional review teams attended the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative International Conference in Prescott, Arizona, organized by Dr. Websdale and his team. The conference afforded teams an invaluable opportunity to connect with attendees from different regional review teams in Illinois and to learn from others doing similar work.

Beginning in July 2024, the DVFRC co-chairs and project director provided monthly technical assistance to the five Pioneer Teams as they selected their first cases for review and began the case review process. The teams also received technical assistance on an as-needed basis. Areas of assistance included support for teams as they developed their individual structures and processes and worked to understand confidentiality as defined under the Act. Assistance also included support relevant to interviewing survivors and their families; using the secure storage Microsoft Teams site; practicing self-care during the review process; and understanding trauma-informed perspectives.

Website

In 2024 the ICJIA maintained and updated the initiative’s website (https://dvfr.illinois.gov/) to reflect the DVFR’s current organizational structure, its most recent and past meeting agendas, minutes, and reports related to the DVFRC’s work. The updates completed this year ensured that the public, along with any prospective regional review team members, had accurate information about how the DVFRC is structured and staffed and that they could review the most recent activities of the committee and the regional review teams.

Data Source Analysis

The DVFRC met with representatives of the IVDRS to discuss the project. The IVDRS is a data source used by the DVFRC for data analysis.

Regional Review Teams

In 2024, the five regional review teams focused on finalizing team membership, on gaining the understanding to conduct domestic violence fatality review, and on preparing for the first reviews. Each of the five regional review teams met regularly. During their initial meetings, the Pioneer Teams all focused on onboarding. This critical piece of creating a review team included trainings on case reviews and the Guidebook. All teams then developed strategies for how their individual team would operate. Additionally, they identified their case selection criteria and reaffirmed prior training on confidentiality and ICJIA’s secure Microsoft Teams storage site.

They continued to work on assessing domestic violence fatality and near-fatality cases within their jurisdictions, on identifying eligible cases, and on scheduling their first case review. One team has completed its first review. The cases ultimately chosen and/or reviewed in 2024 were partly based on the following factors: the number of victims during an alleged offender’s lifetime, the multiplicity of Illinois systems involved, the complexity of the case, the number of witnesses available to interview, and occurrences of past domestic violence in the alleged offender’s family history.[11]

Challenges and Lessons Learned

Regional Team Funding

A lack of funding support for regional review teams presented significant challenges to the DVFR initiative. In 2024, five regional teams made use of alternative options, such as using interns and agency volunteers and seeking alternative funding for support. The first cohort’s funding approaches will be incorporated into the recruitment of the next cohort.

Confidentiality: A Barrier to Accessing Records

Obtaining records during the case review process presented another challenge in 2024. While the Act widely opens the door to team accessibility to confidential records, the DVFRC faced unanticipated challenges in obtaining mental health, AIDS and HIV, and substance use records. ICJIA is meeting with other state agencies and stakeholders to craft language to amend the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality, AIDS Confidentiality, and Substance Abuse Disorder acts to ease barriers to record accessibility. This information is important to understanding the experiences of the people involved in the near-fatality or fatality, interactions, or lack thereof with systems, and opportunities to address gaps and risk factors.

Looking Forward

DVFRC Meetings

The DVFRC will continue its cadence of quarterly meetings in 2025. The meetings will be hosted by ICJIA through the Webex platform. They will continue to include administrative and regional team updates, training opportunities for members, and discussion of the next cohort of regional review teams. Meeting notices, agendas, and minutes can be found on the DVFR website at https://dvfr.illinois.gov.

2025 Regional Review Team Recruitment

Staff are developing a recruitment plan for the second cohort of regional teams. Initial first-year teams self-identified based on an interest in being a pioneer team. A few regions have expressed interest in being a part of the next cohort. Efforts to begin recruiting new teams are anticipated after all pioneer teams have reviewed their first cases. Lessons learned from their case review processes and outcomes will be incorporated into second cohort of regional review team onboarding.

Continued Development of the DVFR Guidebook

The DVFR Guidebook is a living document created to educate and support regional review teams through the case review process. It provides information, sample tools, and templates for the different stages of review. In 2025, the project director will continue to add to and amend the Guidebook based on lessons learned through the pioneer teams’ first case reviews, which will result in a richer, more nuanced resource. Additionally, as ICJIA and the DVFRC work with the legislature to improve access to mental health, substance use, and HIV/AIDS information, we may incorporate into the Guidebook sample procedures, forms, and requests for information that include the statutory language allowing for access.

  1. 750 ILCS 62 ↩︎

  2. 750 ILCS 62/20 ↩︎

  3. 750 ILCS 62/10(d) ↩︎

  4. 750 ILCS 62/10(g) ↩︎

  5. Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (2023). 2023 annual domestic violence homicide report. ↩︎

  6. 750 ILCS 62/40(a)(1) ↩︎

  7. 750 ILCS 62/(a)(1-5) ↩︎

  8. 750 ILCS 62/10(j) ↩︎

  9. 750 ILCS 62/65(a) ↩︎

  10. 750 ILCS 62/409a)(11) ↩︎

  11. While reports use “offender” to describe the person who causes harm in the relationship, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority recognizes that this term is a legal designation and does not fully capture the complexity of that individual’s circumstances. ↩︎