Assessing Transgender Hate Crime Victimization and LGBTQ Liaison Unit Response

Assessing Transgender Hate Crime Victimization and LGBTQ Liaison Unit Response 

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals face high rates of discrimination, mistreatment, and victimization in various contexts, including the workplace, medical settings, school, intimate partner relationships, at the hands of strangers, and in interactions with justice system actors. Within the LGBTQ community, the risk of violent victimization is highly concentrated among transgender individuals, and especially transgender persons of color. Between 2014 and 2022, the number of hate crime incidents involving transgender individuals reported to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) program increased by 364%.

Over the past several decades (and especially in the last 10 years), larger metropolitan police departments have increasingly used specialized liaison officers or units to improve their outreach to and interactions with the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ liaison officers and units provide a range of services within departments, including outreach to members of the LGBTQ community, support for victims of violent crime, and (in some departments) direct response to hate crime‒related call for service. Despite growing implementation of these liaison services, there is little systematic or empirical evaluation of these units, especially in relation to their transgender-specific outreach and ability to report, identify, and respond to transgender hate crime victimization.

To address this gap, we propose a parallel convergent mixed-methods case study research design to assess the efficacy of police departments’ LGBTQ liaison services in addressing transgender-specific hate crime victimization and response. Our multidisciplinary project team will include researchers from CNA’s Center for Justice Research and Innovation (JRI) as well as subject matter experts who are well-versed in constructing and implementing LGBTQ liaison units in police departments. The proposed study will include collection and analysis of various data sources, including calls for service, surveys, on-site observations, interviews, and community listening sessions.

With this interdisciplinary, mixed methods study, the CNA team will produce numerous actionable findings, recommendations, and products that can improve the field of policing, especially in relation to transgender hate crime victimization response. This investigation will also lay the foundation for more rigorous studies that can use experimental or quasi-experimental designs to explore causality between approaches and outcomes. Given the important and timely nature of this topic, we will use a rigorous dissemination plan to translate findings into a variety of products for scholars and practitioners. CNA will utilize our JusticeTalks podcast series and the CNA InDepth blog, write journal articles, and present findings at academic conferences. CA/NCF