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17 J. Hate Stud. 4 (2021)
Analysis of Hate Crimes in Transgender Communities

handle is hein.journals/jnlhtst17 and id is 160 raw text is: JOURNAL OF Gauthier, J., et al. (2021). Analysis of Hate Crimes in HATE STUDIES Transgender Communities. Journal of Hate Studies, 17(2), pp. 4-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33972/jhs.158 RESEARCH Analysis of Hate Crimes in Transgender Communities Jane Gauthier1, Kevin Medina2 and Carly Dierkhising' California State University, Los Angeles, US University of California, Los Angeles, US Corresponding author: Jane Gauthier (jane.gauthier2@calstatela.edu) Research shows that the LGBTQ population is disproportionately affected by hate crimes and those against transgender individuals are especially violent. Given the considerable underreporting of these crimes, better insight into the victimization experiences and reasons for underreporting is necessary to improve the safety of the transgender community and secure necessary services for these victims. The current study takes a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach by creating and utilizing an Advisory Board made up of service providers in the transgender community in Los Angeles, to assist in the development of a survey instrument and focus group questions and provide venues for the focus groups. The study exam- ines results from a short survey and five focus groups with transgender individuals on their experiences of hate crimes and reporting activities. Results indicate nearly all participants experienced some type of hate incident or crime based on their gender identity and/or expression. Almost half of the respondents did not report these crimes to the police because they did not think police would do anything, were afraid of being arrested, or were afraid of being victimized by the police. Narrative accounts describe mostly, though not entirely, negative encounters with the police and how participants take preventative measures to reduce their potential for hate-based victimization. Based on our findings several recommendations have been made to help improve relations between transgender communities and law enforcement with the goal of creating a safer environment for transgender individuals and increasing the reporting of hate crimes. Introduction Hate Crime Statistics from the FBI show that hate crimes against transgender and gender non-conforming individuals have increased 587% between 2013 and 2019 (Department of Justice, 2013, 2019). Because hate crimes statistics for gender iden- tity have only been collected by the FBI since 2013, much of this change may be due to increased coverage and improved data collection processes over time; however, increases are also seen in data collected by non-law enforcement sources. According to the Human Rights Campaign, a record 44 transgender people were killed in 2020, the highest number since they began tracking transgender murders in 2013 (Human Rights Campaign, 2021). Of the 44 transgender murders in 2020, 40 victims were transgender women of color. Further, while data indicate that transgender people overall may not face a higher risk of victimization compared to cisgender people, young Black and Latina transgender women face a higher chance of being murdered than their cisgender counterparts (Dinno, 2017; Stotzer, 2017). While data show that anti-transgender crimes, particularly those against people of color, are an issue in the United States, it is likely we only understand a fraction of the problem because of reporting inaccuracies and underreporting by victims. The current exploratory study seeks to understand the hate crime experiences of transgender individuals, and their reasons for not reporting. Literature Review Underreporting There are a variety of reasons that official hate crime statistics are not accurate. First, it appears that local and state law enforcement agencies underreport the instances of transgender hate crimes. Of the 15,588 participating law enforcement agencies, 86.1% reported that no hate crimes occurred in their jurisdictions in 2019 (Department of Justice, 2019). In addition to underreporting by police agencies, there are also pervasive inaccuracies in reporting that add to the difficulty in understanding the true scope of hate crimes against the transgender community. According to ProPublica (2018), law enforcement agencies investigating murders of transgender people regularly identify victims by names or genders they no longer use. Some agencies state they use an individual's government issued identification when referring to and reporting