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Domestic Violence

AN OPERATIONAL DEFINITION

What is Domestic Violence?

Any act carried out with the intention of physically or emotionally harming another person who is related to you by blood; present or prior marriage or common law marriage; having (or allegedly having) a child in common; having (or have had) a dating relationship. This also includes a person with a disability and their personal assistant.

Domestic Violence Is…A CRIME

Domestic Violence Is…Physical Abuse:
Hitting, shoving, kicking, biting, throwing body down, slapping, choking, using a weapon against, etc.

Domestic Violence Is…Emotional Abuse:
Verbal abuse; intimidation or threats; isolation, restricting or controlling activities, etc.

Domestic Violence Is…Sexual Abuse:
Forcing victim into sexual activities against their will, flaunting extra-marital affairs, harassment, etc.

Domestic Violence Is…Economic Abuse:
Taking persons money, keeping them from getting or keeping a job, making them ask for money, etc.

Domestic Violence Is…Destruction of Property or Pets:
Breaking victim’s property of favorite objects, hurting or killing.

Domestic Violence Is…Stalking
Following and/or placing a person under surveillance thereby causing that person to be in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement or restraint.

The purpose of all abuse is to control the victims behavior by the inducement of fear, and contributes to the abusers power and control over the victim.

The Violent Facts

In 2022, the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline reported…
37,236 calls – an average of 102 calls per day. 

In 2022, the Chicago Police Department reported…
62 domestic violence related homicides in the city, a 38% increase from 2021. There were also 79 non-fatal domestic violence related shootings.

Though Chicago’s population is only composed of 29% of people who identify as Black…
75% of all non-fatal domestic violence related shootings and 66% of domestic violence related homicides in 2022 impacted Black victims.

Domestic Violence causes…
more injury to adult women than cancers, heart attacks, or strokes combined.

Boys who witness abuse…
of one parent by another are, as adults, 700 times more likely to physcally abuse their partners. If boys are also physically abused themselves, they are 1,000 times more likely to physically abuse a future female partner.

Victims of Domestic Violence

Get information and tools to help you and your family cope by clicking the button below.
For immediate help, call our 24-hour Crisis Line: (800) 360-6619.

Get Help Now

“I am anything that I want to be and not because somebody told me but because I believe in myself.”

Sheila, Survivor

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