Serving Survivors of Domestic Violence
By Deirdre Harrington — Sex and Gender-Based Violence Policy Advisor, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
Three years ago, as a sexual assault advocate in the southwest suburbs, where my work often intersected with domestic violence, I got to know the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) pretty well. The relationships I built with the Assistant State’s Attorneys (ASAs) that worked in the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence (SADV) Division inspired me to focus on sexual assault and domestic violence in my graduate schoolwork — which is what led me to my position today as the Sex and Gender-Based Violence Policy Advisor for the CCSAO. I’m inspired daily by the policies the office has put in place to make the criminal justice system more trauma-informed, and even more inspired by the ASAs that put theories into action for survivors throughout Cook County.
Domestic violence is a difficult topic for most people to talk about, but it is necessary for all of us to address the violence that is occurring daily behind closed doors. Domestic violence reaches every community, regardless of race, sexual identity, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and more. Data tells us that 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States.
Almost everyone I know who works in domestic violence has a reason why they do this work — there is almost always a story or personal reason why.
For me, I “fell” into this work when I spent a summer volunteering full-time at a domestic violence shelter — working at the shelter’s on-site school. I saw how so many systems had failed each family at the shelter, whether it was the criminal justice system, family courts or the education system. And many families even had stories of the shelter system failing them. I didn’t know then, as a 20-year-old college student, what I could do to help but I knew I had to do something. Every day I think of the 17 children who started me on my journey of advocating for survivors.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office initiated over 13,500 misdemeanor domestic violence charges in 2019. But the numbers alone don’t do much to tell the story of domestic violence or the work done within our Domestic Violence Unit.
Part of the mission of the SADV Division is to reduce trauma of survivors throughout the criminal justice system through a trauma-informed and victim-centered approach. This almost always includes working with local advocates — knowing that community-based solutions are critical in the work to address the root causes of violence. The Domestic Violence Multi-Disciplinary Team (DVMDT) is one of the many ways in which we partner with advocates, legal aid organizations, law enforcement and other county entities to ensure that we are all providing the best services to survivors of domestic violence and coordinating in ways that are preventing dangerous outcomes for survivors. The DVMDT includes monthly case reviews where our partners come together to figure out where there were times when the CCSAO, or a partner organization, could have intervened, and where there are gaps that the DVMDT could fill in the future.
Additionally, the CCSAO has a Targeted Abuser Call (TAC). The TAC addresses the different needs of domestic violence survivors while ensuring victim safety and offender accountability with the help of ASAs, investigators, and the Life Span Center for Legal Services and Advocacy. Through this multi-disciplinary team approach, high-risk misdemeanor and felony domestic violence cases are targeted and prosecuted. Their goal is to provide an effective response to high-risk domestic violence cases through a targeted, multi-agency approach that works to engage survivors early in the legal process through support and guidance. This support increases survivor cooperation and, ultimately, survivor safety — while promoting the vigorous prosecution of domestic violence offenders.
Right now, there is a pressure point for survivors — the COVID-19 pandemic. This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I want to recognize all of the survivors who are sheltering in place with their abusers, survivors who are afraid to leave because they do not want to be in a shelter or couch-surfing during a pandemic. Survivors who cannot report or seek refuge outside of their home with their safe people because their abuser is home all of the time, survivors whose abuser is now unemployed and the financial difficulties have heightened the abuse, survivors who do not recognize themselves as survivors yet and so many more. The pandemic has placed undue stress on everyone, but particularly domestic violence survivors.
The CCSAO has put into place remote domestic violence screening for criminal charges after a survivor has reported to law enforcement and is continuing to operate out of the courthouses throughout the county. If you don’t feel safe in your home, please call 911 or contact the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline by phone at 877–863–6338, or text 877–863–6339.
You can also reach out to the CCSAO Victim Witness Unit at 773–674–7200.
To all the survivors: you are not alone, and we are here for you.
