Section 750 ILCS 62/10 - Findings The General Assembly finds and declares the following:
(a) Over 10,000,000 people in the United States experience physical domestic violence by a current or former partner each year.(b) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, domestic violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime in the United States, and in this State, 42% of women and 26% of men have been harmed by an intimate partner in their lifetime.(c) According to the U.S. Department of Justice, nationwide approximately 1 in 4 women and nearly 1 in 7 men experience severe physical violence resulting from domestic violence by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime.(d) The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority found that while the actual number of domestic violence incidents are underreported, in this State over 100,000 domestic violence offenses were reported to law enforcement each year between 2005 and 2017. Between 400,000 and nearly 600,000 orders of protection were filed each year between 2005 and 2017.(e) From 2001 to 2018, State domestic violence agencies served nearly 800,000 adults and children, at an average of 57,684 clients per year, according to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.(f) Domestic violence related homicides account for nearly 1 in 5 murders in the United States. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, female homicide victims are substantially more likely than male homicide victims to have been killed by an intimate partner. One in 3 female murder victims are killed by intimate partners. About 4% of male homicide victims were killed by an intimate partner. Nationwide, 72% of all homicide-suicides involved an intimate partner of which 94% of the murdered victims are women.(g) The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority found that 15% of all homicides in this State are connected to domestic violence, such that at least 130 domestic violence related homicides occurred in this State during 2019. The Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence found that domestic violence fatalities occurred across at least 26 counties and included at least 7 children between July 2019 and June 2020.(h) The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority found that the estimated financial impact of domestic violence homicides reported in this State during 2019 would total nearly $1.2 billion.(i) Nearly all familicides involve a history of domestic violence.(j) Effective responses to domestic violence and domestic violence related fatalities involve governmental, social services, and other systems in the community. A coordinated and consistent approach among community and system points of intervention are important to fostering the safety, stability, well-being and healing of survivors, and facilitating meaningful engagement with and sustainable accountability for offenders.(k) Domestic violence transcends boundaries of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, culture, socioeconomic status, and geography.(l) Domestic violence related fatalities and near-fatalities are experienced and responded to differently in historically marginalized communities. The communities and systems that victims, survivors, and offenders engage with in historically marginalized communities are typically those with power imbalances often rooted in systemic racism and oppression. Women of color, in particular, face additional barriers and gaps in accessing systemic and community responses aimed at reducing domestic violence related fatalities and near-fatalities.(m) Over 200 domestic violence fatality review teams exist across the United States. Those teams are engaged in systems reform in order to improve the response to domestic violence and reduce and prevent domestic violence related fatalities and near-fatalities.(n) Domestic violence related fatalities and near-fatalities can be prevented, and the use of regional domestic violence fatality review teams under the leadership, guidance, and technical assistance of the Statewide Committee in support of the regional teams is an effort toward such prevention.Added by P.A. 102-0520,§ 10, eff. 8/20/2021.