City of Chicago-Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force Aims to Address Domestic Violence

Cook County Commissioners Alma Anaya and Donna Miller with Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. Photo provided by Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller’s Office.
Cook County Commissioners Alma Anaya and Donna Miller with Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. Photo provided by Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller’s Office.

City of Chicago-Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force Aims to Address Domestic Violence

By Tia Carol Jones

A task force aimed at creating safeguards for women who are the victims and survivors of domestic violence was launched on Wednesday, Jan. 7th. The City of Chicago-Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force seeks to address the rise in violence against women and their children across Cook County and the city of Chicago.

Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller and the city of Chicago’s 23rd Ward Alderman Silvana Tabares initiated this effort. Miller sponsored a resolution in November of 2025 that established the task force. Miller said that there have been domestic violence hearings as far back as July of 2025. She said that the hearing lasted seven and a half hours.

“It could’ve lasted another seven and a half hours. We heard testimonies from many survivors, as well as their families, advocates and other community stakeholders,” she said.

Commissioner Miller said it was good for her to hear what those who were scheduled to testify were feeling, what they were going through, from a court system standpoint and a personal standpoint. She said that domestic violence takes a toll on a person’s mental health and financial stability. As a result of that hearing in July, and the increase in domestic violence cases reported during 2025, there was a need to address it and figure out solutions on a policy level.

According to statistics from the National Violent Death Reporting System of the Center for Disease Control, in 2025, death by a spouse or an intimate partner in Illinois (.49) was more per capita than the states of California and New York combined (.41%) in 2022. Miller said that not only is domestic violence in the city of Chicago an issue, it is also a County-wide issue, which is why it is a city-county task force. She said the task force is a way to combine efforts to address the issues of domestic violence and make recommendations on ways to improve the system on a legal level.

Miller said that one issue that they can make recommendations on right away involves orders of protection.  She said every person who testified had an issue with a standing order of protection or an order of protection not filed properly. She said the process needs to be streamlined and consistent within courthouses and judges, and there must be consistency with the police department in filing the order of protection.

There is a six-month timeline for the task force to make recommendations. Commissioner Miller said it will be quick and focused so that any legislation that needs to be created would happen during this legislative session in Springfield.

She said one of the issues that can be introduced as legislation is the stalking/no contact statute, which dictates that there has to be two stalking offenses for a person to get a stalking/ no contact order. She said in the same way people can get an emergency order of protection in domestic violence situations, people should be able to get an emergency stalking no contact order and shouldn’t have to wait.

“If you have to wait for two offenses, you could be dead by that second time,” Miller said. She added that she was appalled to learn that about stalking no contact orders.

Miller said that it is important that city, county-wide and statewide elected officials, as well as law enforcement and the judicial system are engaged in the task force because it will take all of them to enact the legislation that comes from the task force. At the launch on Jan. 7th, the survivors and allies were invited to a reception. Commissioner Miller said it was important for them to gather together because it was their voices and testimony that led to the development of the task force. She said it was a way to honor those women, especially those whose lives were lost.

Miller said that she was also surprised to learn that young people in high school are also experiencing higher rates of partner violence. She said there needs to be a norm that young people understand that violence in relationships is not OK and help them understand what a normal relationship looks like. She said she hopes the task force also helps to address that.


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