ABSTRACT
Overlapping COVID-19 pandemic concerns such as exacerbated isolation and lack of access to support services caused domestic violence (DV) advocates distress that there would be a “second pandemic” in DV across the globe. Advocates and scholars also raised concerns about whether police would be able to respond to DV calls for assistance. The current study uses data sets from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and the Chicago Police Department to examine aggregate counts of the adult DV survivor population and perpetrator population in Chicago before and during the pandemic years (2019–2022). We investigate patterns in three types of formal DV services use as well as domestic battery arrests. The study results indicate that services use declined across the four years, with notable reductions in face-to-face counseling and criminal charges, as well as a sizeable increase in use of housing advocacy and economic advocacy services. Chi-square tests of independence revealed that changes in services use across the pandemic were statistically significant. There were significantly fewer arrests of DV perpetrators than expected between 2019 and 2020, and significantly more non-arrests of perpetrators than expected. Limitations and implications are also discussed.
