Under the 2021 Illinois Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act (730 ILCS 210) and the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 (34 U.S.C. § 60105), the State of Illinois is required to collect information on death in custody incidents. The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority is responsible for state and federal reporting of documented death in custody incidents pursuant to both Acts. This webpage is ICJIA’s public information source for death in custody data reporting. The Frequently Asked Questions section below describes the data collection process, including guidance for law enforcement and correctional agencies.

To access in-custody death data, please follow the links at the bottom of this page to a downloadable dataset located in ICJIA’s Research Hub. In-custody death data may also be accessed using the link to ICJIA’s interactive Death in Custody dashboard, also at the bottom of this page.

For other questions, comments, or concerns, please contact CJA.ResearchHub@Illlinois.gov.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is a death considered in-custody?

In general, a death in custody is a death of a person while in the custody of a law enforcement or correctional agency. For both the Illinois Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act and federal Death in Custody Reporting Act, deaths that occur while a law enforcement officer is making an arrest are included. That is, the death need not occur in a police lockup or jail facility. Thus, the data includes fatal officer-involved shootings that occur prior to arrest.

The Illinois Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act requires reporting of:

……all cases in which a person dies: (1) while in the custody of: A) a law enforcement agency; B) a local or State correctional facility in this State; or C) a peace officer; or (2) as a result of the peace officer’s use of force (730 ILCS 210/3-5(e)).

The federal Death in Custody Reporting Act requires reporting of:

…information regarding the death of any person who is detained, under arrest, or is in the process of being arrested, is en route to be incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal or county jail, State prison, State-run boot camp prison, boot camp prison that is contracted out by the State, any State or local contract facility, or other local or State correctional facility (including any juvenile facility; 34 U.S.C. § 60105(a)).

How do incidents get reported?

Every Illinois law enforcement agency, Illinois Department of Corrections facility, Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice Youth Center, and county juvenile detention center must document death in custody incidents. A separate report is completed for each decedent, although incidents involving multiple decedents in the same incident are historically rare. The data is received by ICJIA and included in public reporting and federal compliance reporting.

ICJIA receives death in custody data from centralized state agencies with authorized oversight of reporting agencies within their domain. For example, ICJIA receives data on deaths in Illinois Department of Corrections facilities from centralized IDOC administrators as opposed to individual correctional facilities. There are two reasons why ICJIA adopts this centralized approach: (1) reporting agencies are accustomed to receiving oversight and guidance from centralized agencies within their domain, (2) there are instances where, independent from the Illinois Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act and Death in Custody Reporting Act, agencies are already reporting death in custody information to the centralized oversight agency in their domain; thus, were individual agencies to report directly to ICJIA it would create redundancy.

Overall, ICJIA receives data from:

• Illinois State Police (law enforcement agency reports)
• Illinois Department of Corrections, Planning and Research (adult correctional facility reports)
• Illinois Department of Corrections, Jail and Detention Standards Unit (county and municipal jail reports)
• Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (state Youth Center reports)

What information is collected from each incident?

The Illinois Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act and Death in Custody Reporting Act both list data elements that must be reported. Additionally, the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance has developed a reporting template for Death in Custody Reporting Act reporting that provides exact data fields and measurement requirements. Reporting agencies and centralized state agencies are required to report these statutorily mandated data fields to ICJIA.

The Illinois Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act requires ICJIA to collect the following information from each death in custody incident:

….The written report shall contain the following information: A) the following facts concerning the death that are in the possession of the law enforcement agency in charge of the investigation and the correctional facility where the death occurred, race, age, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity of the decedent, and a brief description of causes, contributing factors and the circumstances surrounding the death; B) if the death occurred in custody, the report shall also include the jurisdiction, the law enforcement agency providing the investigation, and the local or State facility where the death occurred; C) if the death occurred in custody the report shall also include if emergency care was requested by the law enforcement agency in response to any illness, injury, self-inflicted or otherwise, or other issue related to rapid deterioration of physical wellness or human subsistence, and details concerning emergency care that were provided to the decedent if emergency care was provided (730 ILCS 210/3-5(b)(2)).

The Death in Custody Reporting Act requires ICJIA to collect the following information from each death in custody incident:

The report required by this section shall contain information that, at a minimum, includes— (1) the name, gender, race, ethnicity, and age of the deceased; (2) the date, time, and location of death; (3) the law enforcement agency that detained, arrested, or was in the process of arresting the deceased; and (4) a brief description of the circumstances surrounding the death (34 U.S.C. § 60105(b)).

The Data Table includes a data dictionary that describes each data field. Several required fields are currently excluded from the ICJIA Dashboard and data table. Decedent names are excluded to protect the privacy of victims’ families. Other fields are excluded because centralized agencies were not collecting them as part of pre-existing death in custody data collection processes (recall that organizations were collecting death in custody information independent from state and federal reporting requirements), thus requiring modification of organizational processes. These fields will be added to the dashboard and data table as they become available, in a second data dissemination phase.

Can reporting agencies provide information directly to ICJIA?

Reporting agencies are compliant with the Illinois Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act and Death in Custody Reporting Act simply by complying with the reporting requirements of centralized state agencies in their domain. However, ICJIA also hosts a web-based reporting form. Reporting agencies may use the form at their discretion. Use the link below to access the reporting form.

Direct Report Link

How will information be made available to the public?

In addition to the Data Table and Dashboard, ICJIA will also publishes death in custody annual reports, as required by the Illinois Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act:

The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority shall issue a public annual report tabulating and evaluating trends and information on deaths in custody, including, but not limited to: (1) information regarding the race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity of the decedent; and a brief description of the circumstances surrounding the death; (2) if the death occurred in custody, the report shall also include the jurisdiction, law enforcement agency providing the investigation, and local or State facility where the death occurred; and (3) recommendations and State and local efforts underway to reduce deaths in custody (730 ILCS 210/3-5(i)).

What is the timeframe of the available data?

The available dataset currently includes data from 2019 through present and is updated on a quarterly basis.