Violence Data Update

Background

The goals and recommendations of the Statewide Violence Prevention Plan: 2020-2024 were informed by a needs assessment of violence that used data largely from 2018.^[1] The needs assessment considered rates of various forms of violence, including disparities in rates by socio-demographic factors and geographical areas.^[2]

Updated violence data were examined for the Statewide Violence Prevention Plan for Illinois: 2025-2029.^[3] These updated data are presented in this Violence Data Update report, which highlights rates of violence and examines trends in violence rates, largely focusing on 2020-2023.

Methods

Data in this report are largely from publicly available data sources. These data sources are noted and linked within each section of the report. Included in this report are data on the following:

• Child maltreatment (2019-2022), including substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect.

• Youth violence, including bullying, cyberbullying, sexual violence, dating violence, physical fighting, and carried weapons based on national (2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023) and state (2018, 2020, and 2022) surveillance surveys.

• Additional forms of violence from reports that were released from 2014 to 2023 (e.g., elder abuse, human trafficking, gun violence, adult violent crimes).

• Rates of socio-demographic factors (e.g., race, ethnicity, sex, gender), when available.

Results

Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment includes physical and other abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and risk of harm. In their previous needs assessment, Garthe et al. reported a rate of 10.95 substantiated reports of child maltreatment per 1,000 children in Illinois during 2018.^[4] This rate was slightly higher than the national rate, which was 9.2 substantiated reports per 1,000 children in the United States.^[5] The rate of substantiated reports in Illinois increased from 2019 through 2021 and then decreased in 2022. The national rate decreased across 2019-2022.

Figure 1. Rate of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Cases in Illinois and Nationally (2019-2022)

Youth Violence – National Survey Results

Youth violence includes a variety of experiences, including physical fighting, sexual violence and forced sexual intercourse, dating violence, bullying, electronic bullying, and weapon carrying. Across all four survey years (2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023), Illinois’ percentages were higher than national percentages for the following forms of violence:

• Physically forced to have sexual intercourse.

• Experienced sexual violence by anyone.

• Electronically bullied.

• Threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.

See Figure 2 for 2023 comparisons between Illinois and U.S. rates across forms of youth violence.

Figure 2. Percentages of Youth Violence by Type, in Illinois and U.S. (2023)

Disparities in Youth Violence Rates by Sexual Identity and Gender

Youth who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) or who were attracted to the same or both sexes reported higher percentages of victimization than did heterosexual youth or youth who were attracted to the opposite sex. This disparity was seen at the state and national levels from 2017-2023.

Prevalence was also available by gender identity in 2023. Youth who identified as transgender (i.e., gender identity or expression is not congruent with the traits culturally associated with sex assigned at birth) or not sure of their gender identity reported higher rates of victimization than their cisgender (i.e., gender identity or expression is congruent with the traits culturally associated with sex assigned at birth) peers. This disparity was seen at the state and national levels in 2023.

Youth Violence – State Survey Results

Youth violence data from a state surveillance survey (2018, 2020, and 2022) were also examined. Percentages of youth violence remained similar or showed a slight decline from 2018 to 2022 (see Table 1). Across the three years:

• About one in three students reported experiencing a form of bullying in the past 12 months.

• About one in five students had experienced cyber-bullying.

• About one in five students had been in a physical fight.

Table 1. Percentages of Youth Violence in Illinois (2018, 2020, and 2022)

Disparities in Youth Violence Rates by Race

Across years, Multiracial youth or Native American/American Indian youth reported the highest percentages of experiencing bullying, cyber-bullying, dating violence, and weapon carrying. Black/African American youth reported the highest percentages of physical fighting.

Disparities in Youth Violence Rates by Gender

Transgender youth reported the highest percentages of bullying and cyber-bullying across all time points. Transgender and gender expansive (i.e., do not identify as male, female, or transgender) youth reported the highest percentages of dating violence and weapon carrying. Physical fighting was similarly high among male, transgender, and gender expansive youth each year. Female youth reported higher levels of bullying, cyber-bullying, and dating violence than male youth.

Disparities by Free or Reduced-Price Lunch

Across the three survey years, youth eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch reported higher percentages of violence than youth not eligible. The only exception was for youth who experienced bullying in 2018.

Associations between Youth Violence and Mental Health

Across 2018-2022, youth who experienced victimization or engaged in physical fighting or weapon carrying had a higher likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Percentages of Youth in Illinois with Depressive Symptoms Who Did or Did Not Experience Violence (2022)

Abuse among Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities

Reports of abuse (i.e., emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse); neglect (i.e., passive neglect, self-neglect); financial exploitation; willful deprivation; and confinement were examined among older adults and persons with disabilities. Compared to increases observed in earlier years (Fiscal Years [FYs] 2016-2019), the range of abuse types started to decline slightly in FYs 2020-2022, though they never declined lower than they were in 2016. Counts increased again in FY 2023, and by 2024 they were higher than they had been at their peak in 2019.

Human Trafficking Cases and Arrests

Human trafficking includes sex and labor trafficking. Human trafficking is widely underreported to law enforcement due to challenges in identification and reporting. Hence, these numbers likely do not reflect the full reality.^[6] The National Human Trafficking Hotline tracks the number of contacts (via call, text, web chat, email, or online report) and human trafficking cases by state. This Violence Data Update provides data from 2018-2023 and reveals that the highest numbers of human trafficking contacts and cases were in 2020.

Gun Violence

The firearm mortality rate increased from 2020 to 2022. Regarding trends by sociodemographic factors from 2018-2020, rates of firearm deaths in Illinois were higher among Black individuals (than White and Hispanic individuals), males (than females), and individuals ages 15-24 and 25-34 (than individuals 35-44 years old).

Figure 4. Firearm Mortality Rate per 100,000 in Illinois (2014-2022)

Adult Violent Offenses

Adult violent offenses include murder, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. Illinois had higher rates than the nation did in 2017-2020. When examining violent crime by demographics of the person who committed an offense, we found the largest proportions of recorded offenses were associated with individuals ages 20–29, males, Black or African American individuals, and non-Hispanic individuals.

In 2020, the 10 counties with the highest rates of violent offenses per 100,000 people were:

1. Winnebago (843.4)
2. Vermilion (828.2)
3. Sangamon (690.7)
4. Peoria (629.9)
5. Jefferson (561.9)
6. Massac (561.1)
7. Macon (523.6)
8. Edgar (514.7)
9. Champaign (486.3)
10. Mason (481.7)

Summary

Across the forms of violence reviewed in this report, most percentages and rates of violence remained consistent in Illinois from 2018 through the dates covered in our analyses (2020-2023). However, rates of firearm deaths increased in 2020 and 2021 and remained high in 2022. Disparities in rates of violence continue to exist for minoritized groups and in certain geographies.