Illinois has introduced a new tool to track violent deaths and non-fatal firearm violence at the county level. The dashboard, launched on January 21 by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), is divided into two sections: Illinois Firearm Injury Rates and Illinois Violent Deaths. It aims to provide detailed county-level information about these incidents, including incident types such as homicide or suicide, weapon type, and victim's residence.
The data for this initiative is supplied by the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System (IVDRS) operated by scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. This system provides comprehensive data on violent deaths, covering demographics of victims and suspects, circumstances surrounding the fatal injury, and toxicology and autopsy results. Sources include death certificates, coroner/medical examiner reports, law enforcement records, toxicology reports, and autopsy findings.
Maryann Mason, associate professor of emergency medicine at Feinberg stated that "We need data to identify public health problems so we can develop, scale and evaluate interventions to reduce violence." She added that "This dashboard puts critical data in the hands of people who can make a difference."
The primary aim of the dashboard is to support prevention and intervention efforts aimed at reducing violent deaths and firearm injuries in Illinois. It also serves as a resource for journalists reporting on trends related to violence in the state.
Though Minnesota and Michigan have similar systems tracking violent deaths, Illinois' dashboard is unique in its comprehensive approach to both violent deaths and non-fatal firearm injuries.
Dr. Sameer Vohra, IDPH Director emphasized that "Firearm violence is a public health crisis that requires public health solutions," adding that "Modernizing how we gather and use data is critical to finding holistic solutions that address firearm violence in a comprehensive way."
The gathered data sheds light on various trends within Illinois:
- Suicide rates among women increased from 172 in 2015 to 325 in 2022; homicides rose from 76 in 2015 to 211 in 2022.
- Men are more likely than women to experience violent deaths or non-fatal firearms injuries.
- Firearms were involved in most homicide deaths (84%), suicide deaths (36%), and all violent deaths among those under 18 years old between 2015-2022.
- Chicago reported the highest rate of non-fatal firearms injuries.
- Non-fatal firearm injuries were most common among individuals aged 20-to-29 years old.
- Black residents are disproportionately affected by firearm violence compared to white residents.
IDPH plans to expand this technology for tracking other significant incidents affecting public wellbeing like sexual assault.
Understory Consulting developed this Dashboard with funding from The Joyce Foundation. Data comes from two CDC-funded public health surveillance systems.