If you, or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence the Illinois Department of Human Services offers a 24/7 hotline to help connect you to resources throughout the state. That number is 1-877-863-6338. It is toll free, multilingual and confidential.
In the past month, the Chicago area and surrounding suburbs have endured several tragedies involving domestic violence.
On Jan. 10, Downers Grove police began investigating a murder-suicide between a husband and wife.
Nearly 10 days later, Tinley Park Police responded to another domestic crime that left a wife and her three daughters dead. Their father is accused of the killing.
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This week in Joliet, another man was accused of killing several members of his family before he was killed in a police incident in Texas.
"I mean it’s just heartbreak," said Carol Gall, the executive director of Sarah's Inn, an organization designed to provide resources to survivors of domestic violence. "You can't hear these stories of tragedy and not just feel like, Wow. There’s so much more that we need to be doing.”
She says everyone is at risk of finding themselves in these situations.
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"Many people suffer in silence in their communities, and domestic violence is happening everywhere," she explained. "It doesn’t discriminate against socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity.”
There are warning signs to look out for. It can be mental manipulation, intimidation, financial or physical abuse.
“You just have a concern about how much someone really has control over someone else’s life, what they’re doing, where they’re working, who their friends are, who they’re talking to," she said. "Domestic violence is foundationally all about power and control, and the ultimate loss of control is when someone says I’m done, I'm leaving. So it takes safety planning and measures to leave.”
Sarah's Inn offers resources to aid in safety planning.
“We also provide legal advocacy," Gall said. "So we have legal advocates that work in the courthouses to help assist with things like order of protection."
Many advocates also believe a bill, currently delayed in the state senate, could help prevent some deaths.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the presence of a gun in these situations increases the risk of homicide by 500 percent.
Karina's Bill would require judges to issue a gun seizure order along with an order of protection, requiring law enforcement to serve the order and take the weapon within 48 hours. However, in November, the vote was delayed until spring citing enforcement and implementation road blocks.
