“I Don’t Think the Police Think We’re Human”: Legal Socialization Among Young Transgender Women

ABSTRACT

Legal socialization is the process by which individuals develop values, attitudes, and behaviors related to the law and legal authorities. Legal socialization also includes beliefs about procedural justice, police legitimacy, and legal cynicism. To date, few studies have examined the legal socialization processes of transgender women, a worrisome omission given high rates of police contact, arrest, harassment, and violence among transgender women, particularly transgender women of color. This study examines transgender women’s experiences with and perceptions about the police, including experiences of procedural injustice and how they impact police legitimacy and cynicism, among a racially diverse sample of transgender women living in Chicago. Participants described undergoing a secondary legal socialization process after beginning to transition. The study also documented strategies transgender women use to prevent police contact and arrest.

KEYWORDS:

• Transgender women
• police
• legal socialization
• legal cynicism
• procedural justice

Acknowledgments

Research reported in this publication was supported by the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation. The author would like to thank Carly Murray for data coding assistance and Theodore Lentz for invaluable feedback on earlier drafts of the manuscript. Thank you to the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful feedback. Special thanks to the individuals who participated in this study for sharing their stories.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. All names are pseudonyms to protect privacy. Demographic information is provided using the terms interviewees used to describe themselves.

Additional information

Funding

Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation Doctoral Dissertation Grant Program.