Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office LGBTQ+ Arrest Identification Tool

• In Event: Legal Frameworks and Policy Analyses in Victim Rights

Abstract

Objective: The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Transparency Analytics (DATA) Lab worked with the Victim Services Division to create an LGBTQ+ Arrest Identification Tool that identifies cases involving perceived or self-identified LGBTQ+ individuals who have been affected by crime. Expansion of this project includes quarterly reporting, which we use to standardize the process of disseminating findings, advocating for internal policies and influencing changes to direct service options.

Data/Methods: We created a tool that identifies key words documented on arrest reports that may indicate the involvement of an LGBTQ+ individual. All flagged arrests are manually reviewed to determine if any party involved, including defendants, witnesses, or victims are identified as an LGBTQ+ person.

Results: As reported by the last quarter of 2024, this project has been able to point us to nearly 400 incidents involving LGBT+ individuals.

Conclusions/Implications: Although the tool has given us an additional path to support LGBTQ+ individuals, one limiting factor is data accessibility. Further data collection efforts are necessary to identify and mitigate harm within the criminal legal system toward LGBTQ+ people. Additional research is necessary to identify causal relationships amongst policies, harm, and sites of intervention.

Authors

• Yasmin Ayala-Johnson, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office

• Kelly Burkhardt, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office

• Tyrell Mann-Barnes, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office

• Mary Doyle, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office

• Lillian Fok, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office