Illinois has a new tool to track violence

Illinois has a new tool to monitor violent deaths and non-fatal firearm violence at the county level to hopefully better prevent and reduce violence in the state.

The dashboard, launched Jan. 21 by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), is presented in two parts: Illinois Firearm Injury Rates and Illinois Violent Deaths. It is intended to provide detailed information at the county level about these incidents, with the goal of informing data-driven prevention and intervention efforts to reduce violent deaths and firearm injuries in Illinois. It is the most comprehensive data source of on these types of deaths.

Scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine operate the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System (IVDRS), which supplies the violent death and circumstances data to the dashboard, including victim and suspect demographics, circumstances leading up to and including the fatal injury, and toxicology and autopsy results. Data for deaths comes from death certificates, coroners/medical examiners, law enforcement and toxicology and autopsy reports.

“We need data to identify public health problems so we can develop, scale and evaluate interventions to reduce violence,” said Maryann Mason, associate professor of emergency medicine at Feinberg. “This dashboard puts critical data in the hands of people who can make a difference.”

The importance of tracking firearm injuries

While Minnesota and Michigan have similar dashboards tracking violent deaths, the Illinois dashboard is the first of its kind to gather comprehensive data about both violent deaths and non-fatal firearm injuries. 

“Firearm violence is a public health crisis that requires public health solutions,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “Modernizing how we gather and use data is critical to finding holistic solutions that address firearm violence in a comprehensive way. We look forward to partnering with our statewide and local leaders to use this dashboard to create data-driven policies and plans that make our communities safer and healthier.”

Recent trends revealed by the data

• Rates of suicide and homicide among women in Illinois increased in recent years. Suicides increased from 172 in 2015 to 325 in 2022. Homicides increased from 76 in 2015 to 211 in 2022.
• Men are far more likely than women to be victims of violent deaths and non-fatal firearms injuries in Illinois. The non-fatal firearm injury rate for men was 261.2 per 100,000 ED visits, compared to 37.2 for women.
• Firearms were used in 84% of homicide deaths, 36% of suicide deaths and 57% of all violent deaths among those under 18 years of age between 2015-2022.
• Chicago had the highest rate of non-fatal firearms injury in Illinois, with more than 350 reported out of every 100,000 ER visits.
• The most common age range to sustain a non-fatal firearm injury was 20-to-29-year-olds, followed by 10-to-19-year-olds. Firearm-related violent deaths were highest among 20-to-29-year-olds.
• Black Illinoisans are more than 10 times as likely to sustain a non-fatal firearm injury compared to white residents. Black Illinoisans account for more than 55% of firearm fatalities in the state while making up only 12.4% of Illinois’ population.

What’s next

IDPH hopes to expand the technology to track other significant incidents that affect public wellbeing, such as sexual assault.