Battery in Chicago — Crime Statistics 2026

What battery means on the CPD feed

In Illinois charging language, battery is bodily harm or insulting or provoking physical contact. On the public incident extract, CPD files those events under the IUCR primary type Battery. That is a different bucket from Assault, which covers threats or attempts that do not complete the contact battery describes. The 73,478 rows on this page are only the battery primary type. Mixing battery with assault, robbery, or homicide would double-count person-crime volume and hide how CPD labeled each report.

Battery includes a range of seriousness inside one primary type, from domestic battery codes to simpler contact offenses. This narrative does not invent a split among those IUCR codes because the packet facts give a single incident count. The table is the place to read description fields, location, and date. The 73,478 total is a report count, not a count of unique victims, unique suspects, or hospital cases.

Share of the Chicago incident index

Relative to 410,083 Chicago incidents in this extract, 73,478 battery reports are a large person-crime block (about 17.9 percent). That share is a statement about how CPD coded the public feed, not a statement about which events matter more to a community. High-volume types dominate maps; rarer types can still be the events residents ask about first. Keep the denominator in view: battery is 17.9 percent of the indexed city total, not 17.9 percent of all harm in Chicago.

Person-crime categories are sensitive. A battery row can describe a household, a street, or a commercial setting. Block-level geography on the open-data file is rounded. It is not a door address and should not be treated as identifying a household. Community area labels follow the city's official 77 areas.

Questions

How many battery reports has CPD filed in this Chicago index?

This extract lists 73,478 Chicago incidents with primary type Battery, about 17.9 percent of 410,083 city reports. The count is from Chicago Police Department incidents on the city open-data portal. It is a report total, not convictions, unique victims, or hospital visits. LocalCrimeVault does not reclassify CPD charges.

What is the difference between battery and assault in Chicago data?

CPD files Battery and Assault as separate IUCR primary types. Battery covers completed physical contact or bodily harm as coded on the incident. Assault covers threats or attempts that do not land in the battery bucket. This page is only the 73,478 battery rows. Combining the two types would mix distinct CPD labels.

Does a battery row mean someone was found guilty?

No. Open-data incidents are police reports. They can exist without an arrest, without charges, or after a case is dropped. The 73,478 figure should not be quoted as a conviction count. Court outcomes live in other systems. Treat the table as a public record of how CPD labeled events, not a verdict list.

Are battery locations exact addresses?

No. CPD's public extract uses block-level ranges and official community areas, not street-number addresses of victims or suspects. That privacy design is in the source file. Use the Chicago hub and the battery type table for geography as published, and do not treat a block as identifying a household.