Defining the Nature and Extent of the Murder of Transgender People in America: Introducing A New, Comprehensive Database

• In Event: Hate Crime Reporting Patterns at The Individual and Agency Level

Abstract

Fatal violence, bias-motivated or otherwise, against the transgender community is a serious social issue that has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. Addressing this issue requires understanding the patterns associated with this violence, yet reliable data for doing so does not currently exist. The limited data that do exist are inadequate in at least two ways. First, these data do not contain detailed incident, victim, or location information; this omission precludes the basic understanding of patterns of violence against the transgender community. Second, no existing data can be reliably linked to information regarding police handling of cases, which may be reasonably expected to impact the clearance of transgender homicides, among other outcomes. Following this, the current research presents results from a newly created, comprehensive database of more than 300 transgender homicides occurring in the U.S. between 2012 and 2021. Defining the nature of the problem is an important step toward addressing a problem, and the current research represents an essential step toward defining the nature of transgender homicide in America.

Authors

• Alexis Faulkner, Florida State University

• Brendan Lantz, Florida State University