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State's Attorney Alvarez Announces Federal Grant to Enhance Prosecution of Most Serious Domestic Violence Cases

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has received a $ 1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to expand a highly acclaimed and specialized prosecutions program that serves victims in the most high-risk domestic violence cases, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced today.

The Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women has awarded the grant for the expansion of the State’s Attorney’s Target Abuser Call (TAC), a prosecutions-based domestic violence program that focuses on the highest-risk misdemeanor domestic violence cases in Chicago.

The TAC Program employs a multi-agency approach and is designed to engage the victim early in the legal process and offer wraparound services to provide a better opportunity to break the cycle of violence while ensuring victim safety and offender accountability, according to Alvarez.

“With financial resources at the local level so depleted, this grant could not come at a better time for the victims of domestic violence here in Chicago,” Alvarez said.

“The TAC Program really works and not only has it helped us increase conviction rates, it has provided services to our victims to help give them a direct voice in how to best address their own personal safety while also holding the domestic violence offender accountable.”

The TAC program was originally established by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in 1997.  The program currently consists of two “TAC Teams” working at Domestic Violence court each comprised of an Assistant State’s Attorney, a State’s Attorney investigator, and a State’s Attorney Victim Witness specialist.   
 
The TAC teams work with community-based partner agencies to take a more intensive approach in the prosecution of the case as well as in identifying services and support for the victim.  The TAC teams handle their cases through “vertical prosecution,” meaning the same State’s Attorney employees work with the victim from the beginning of the case to its conclusion.

The two-year grant will fund the creation of an additional TAC team comprised of three full time employees.