The Victimization of Transgender Individuals: Addressing the Needs of a Hidden Population

Introduction

According to data from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC, 2019), the first few months of the year 2020 saw the killing of at least 44 transgender or gender non-conforming individuals, the majority of whom were Black and Latinx trans women. On New Year’s Day, 25-year-old Dustin Parker was shot and killed in McAlester, OK; on February 24^th, Neulisa Luciano Ruiz was murdered in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico; and on March 18^th, Monika Diamond, a 34-year-old Black trans woman was killed in Charlotte, NC. The HRC reports it has not seen this high number of victimizations of the transgender population since it began tracking these incidents in 2013. Since 2013, more than 130 transgender individuals have been murdered in the United States (HRC, 2019).

As will be discussed in greater detail below, exploring the extent and nature of transgender (“trans”) victimization is thwarted by either missing or incomplete data. Until the most recent past, little was known about this critical social phenomenon. What is now known, however, is that the victimization of transgender individuals has broken through a previously-hidden layer of denial at best or an outright sense of uncaring at worst. James et al. (2016) reported on data from the U.S. Transgender Survey of 28,000 transgender people, finding that 46% said that they had been verbally harassed in some way, with one in 10 saying they had been physically assaulted in the last year. Further, those who reported a violent victimization expressed confidence in believing their victimization was directly related to their gender identity (James et al., 2016). A European study in which 6,500 trans people were surveyed found similar results, reporting 34% of respondents said they experienced violence or the threat of violence in the five-year period prior to being surveyed (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights or FRA, 2014). Other findings from around the globe indicate violence against transgender individuals is pervasive and often goes unreported (HRC, 2019). In 2018, for example, 60 transgender people were killed in Pakistan (HRC, 2019). Higher rates are found in Central American countries, with Honduras having the highest per capita rate of reported murders. It is especially troubling to know the murders of transgender individuals are often carried out viciously, according to HRC (2019).

As reported by HRC, it is not difficult to discern transgender bias in some cases. In others, however, there is evidence to suggest the victim’s gender identity may have put them at risk for violence due to contributing factors, such as being forced into unemployment, homelessness, poverty, and in some instances, sex work as a means through which to survive economically (HRC, 2019) (an issue addressed below). Much of what is known about the victimization of transgender individuals remains hidden from the general public and from criminal justice personnel charged with the administration of justice.

In addition to these cultural barriers, or perhaps as an outgrowth of them, there are political barriers as well. During the Trump Administration in the U.S., for example, deliberate steps were taken to limit the extension of civil rights and/or protections for various subgroups of the population such as the LGBTQ community and people of color, especially in the workplace. The Equality Act (the Act) was first proposed in 2015 and aimed to protect the LBGTQ community from discrimination: it received support from major corporations such as Apple, Dow Chemical Company, and Levi Strauss and Co. The Act has a long way to go before it will make its way through a divided U.S. Congress, even with a new Administration in place in support of it. This piece of legislation would provide protections to members of the transgender community, and is mentioned here as just one of many measures attempted at the federal and state level to correct societal inequalities and discriminatory practices that are not likely to succeed given the outright hostility expressed against them.

Just as important as it is to better understand the scope of the problem when it comes to uncovering the raw numbers associated with criminal victimization among transgender individuals is the identification and increased awareness of the plethora of issues related to those experiences. It is only through a careful examination of these critical issues that any semblance of effective policy making can occur, and policies (or programs) can be put into place to curb transgender victimization, to alleviate the impact of the victimization on victims, and to ensure a more victim-centered approach in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes.