TY - JOUR
T1 - Multilevel experiences of carceral violence in Los Angeles, California
T2 - first-hand accounts from a racially diverse sample of transgender women
AU - Winiker, Abigail K.
AU - Eschliman, Evan L.
AU - Kisanga, Edwina P.
AU - Poku, Ohemaa B.
AU - Candelario, Jury
AU - Takahashi, Lois M.
AU - Tobin, Karin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Gender-based violence
KW - gender norms
KW - stigma
KW - structural factors
KW - transgender women
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U2 - 10.1080/13691058.2023.2194353
DO - 10.1080/13691058.2023.2194353
M3 - Article
C2 - 36995142
AN - SCOPUS:85151361228
SN - 1369-1058
VL - 26
SP - 159
EP - 173
JO - Culture, Health and Sexuality
JF - Culture, Health and Sexuality
IS - 2
ER -