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Children's Memorial Research Center
Illinois Violent Death Reporting System
The purpose of the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System (IVDRS) is to develop a state-wide data repository related to violent deaths. With these data, policy makers and researchers will be able to analyze the causes and correlates of violent deaths in order to develop effective prevention policies and programs for the State of Illinois.
When a violent death occurs, many agencies (for example, police departments, medical examiners, crime labs and health departments) collect data about the death as part of their routine procedures. But these data are not shared among the agencies. The IVDRS brings these routinely collected data together from each agency to draw a complete picture of the circumstances surrounding the death. In doing so, improved programs can be designed to prevent future violent deaths. The IVDRS will become part of the National Violent Death Reporting System, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, and it includes all deaths that are the result of homicide, suicide, unintentional firearm incidents, terrorism, legal intervention, and other forms of injury where the intention is not known.
In the first phase of implementation, the IVDRS team is working with agencies in three jurisdictions: Cook, Kane and Peoria Counties. All Illinois counties will be included over a five year period. Funding for IVDRS began in July 2002 with a seed grant from the Children's Memorial Research Center to develop the necessary agency partnerships to launch the data system. In January, 2005, data collection began with funding from The Joyce Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, and The Illinois Violence Prevention Authority.
Children’s Memorial leads effort to reduce violence against children
At Children’s Memorial, promoting the health and well-being of children goes far beyond treatment alone. As the largest pediatric care provider in Illinois, the hospital has been a strong advocate on behalf of children and families since it was founded more than 125 years ago. Current child advocacy programs range from efforts to reduce child abuse and childhood obesity to influencing public policy on HIV.
Children’s Memorial is also a leader in advocating for the prevention of violence against children. For the last five years, the hospital has led the effort to create the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System (IVDRS), a program to create a state-wide database correlating information on violent deaths. By analyzing this data, researchers and policy makers hope to determine emerging patterns and develop more effective violence prevention policies and programs. The initiative is part of the Children’s Memorial Research Center’s Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Child Health Research Program and its Child Health Data Lab (CHDL).
“This project is a natural outgrowth of Children’s Memorial’s long-term commitment to promote child health and well-being in families and out in the community, not just in the clinic and in the hospital,” says Jenifer Cartland, PhD, principal investigator of the IVDRS and director of the CHDL.
As an example of the impact of violence on children, during the 2007-2008 school year, more than 20 Chicago public school children were victims of violent deaths, many involving firearms. According to Kathleen Monahan, MPH, project director of the IVDRS, firearm injury is the leading cause of death in Chicago for young adults between ages 15 and 19.
Children’s Memorial’s IVDRS initiative was created in 2002 by a seed grant from the Children’s Memorial Research Center, and is modeled on a national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program. Support has come from the Joyce Foundation, the J ohn D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Chicago Community Trust and the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority. The initial data is being compiled from agencies in Cook, Kane and Peoria Counties, where 60 percent of violent deaths in Illinois occur.
Participating agencies include police departments, medical examiners, crime labs and health departments. Prior to the beginning of the program, few of these agencies shared such information or disseminated it in a comprehensive way.
With the full participation of these groups, Monahan says the compilation of this data will create a more complete picture of the circumstances surrounding each death, making it possible to develop prevention programs.
The support of the Joyce Foundation in particular has been crucial in developing the program, according to Monahan.
“The Joyce Foundation has been a real leader nationally on gun violence prevention policy, education and research,” she says. “Without their leadership, incredible support and strategic thinking, we wouldn’t have this program.”
“ Gun violence is a deadly threat to families in every community,” says Ellen S. Alberding, President of the Joyce Foundation. “We support the development of the IVDRS because of the great promise it holds to help save lives.”
Monahan says additional support would enable the program to expand to include all Illinois counties and increase staffing to aid in the collection of data.
“There is no one thing that is going to solve these issues,” she says. “But we are confident our research group is doing everything it can to help contribute to the larger picture of violence prevention and advocating for children who are victims of violence.”
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