Multilevel experiences of carceral violence in Los Angeles, California: first-hand accounts from a racially diverse sample of transgender women

Abstract

Transgender women face a disproportionate burden of carceral violence, or violence related to policing and the criminal legal system, with transgender women of colour experiencing even greater disparities. Several frameworks conceptualise the mechanisms through which violence impacts transgender women. However, none of them directly explore the role of carceral violence, particularly as it is experienced by transgender women themselves. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with a racially/ethnically diverse sample of transgender women in Los Angeles between May and July 2020. Participants were between 23 – 67 years old. Participants identified as Black (n = 4), Latina (n = 4), white (n = 2), Asian (n = 2), and Native American (n = 2). Interviews assessed experiences of multilevel violence, including from police and law enforcement. Deductive and inductive coding methods were used to identify and explore common themes concerning carceral violence. Experiences of law enforcement-perpetrated interpersonal violence were common and included physical, sexual and verbal abuse. Participants also highlighted structural violence, including misgendering, the non-acceptance of transgender identities, and police intentionally failing to uphold laws that could protect transgender women. These results demonstrate the pervasive, multilevel nature of carceral violence perpetrated against transgender women and suggest avenues for future framework development, trans-specific expansions of carceral theory, and system-wide institutional change.

Keywords:

• Gender-based violence
• transgender women
• structural factors
• stigma
• gender norms

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the participants of this study who generously devoted their time and energy to share their experiences with the research team.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Abigail K. Winiker is supported by the US National Institute of Child Health and Development (T32-HDO64428). Ohemaa B. Poku is supported by the US National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH19139-32).