Domestic violence surge continued in 2021, new report shows

Chicago Police outside an apartment building where a Chicago Police officer was shot while responding to a report of a “domestic disturbance” in the 1300 block of West Taylor Street on July 1. Calls to domestic violence hotlines have surged, though calls to police and arrests have dropped, according to a report by The Network, a domestic violence advocacy organization. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file photo)

Domestic violence continued to surge in Chicago and across Illinois in 2021, while pandemic-based isolation and economic uncertainty made it harder for victims to get help, a new report released Monday states.

A statewide domestic violence hotline received nearly 30,000 calls in 2021, up 5%, and the number of murders and shootings involving domestic relations in Chicago increased nearly two-thirds from 2020, according to the “Measuring Safety: Gender-based Violence in Illinois” by The Network, a Chicago-based advocacy organization.