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2023-05-12

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Transgender people face widespread abuse and violence from the criminal justice system in the United States, and sociological research has paid more attention to this issue in recent years. Still, there is little research exploring trans peoples’ experiences with the police. Using a framework of intersectional subjection, this paper examines trans peoples’ experiences with police violence and misconduct and how sex work, race, and transphobia affect these relationships. To do so, I use the 2015 United States Transgender Survey to see how engagement in sex work affects trans peoples’ risk of interacting with the police, how sex work and race affect trans peoples’ risk of experiencing police violence, and how being visibly trans to the police affects trans peoples’ experiences with police misconduct. I find that trans women have the highest risk of police interaction among those who had not engaged in sex work, trans men had the highest risk of police interaction among those who had engaged in sex work, non-white trans people who police thought were engaged in sex work had the highest probability of experiencing police violence, and that those who police knew were trans had higher probabilities of experiencing police misconduct when the police believed them to be engaged in sex work. This study adds important context to the widespread police violence facing trans people and to discussions of intersectional subjection.

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transgender, sex work, race, police violence

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