Documents
Drawing on the expertise of advocates, practitioners, and directly impacted voices, the discussion will explore the intersection of trans identity and criminalization. Panelists will analyze current legal frameworks and policy strategies, identify gaps in protection and accountability, and highlight emerging strategies to safeguard the dignity, health, and rights of trans individuals.
The session seeks to equip participants with a deeper understanding of how structural inequities operate within carceral institutions and to present actionable approaches for advancing reform at the levels of policy, litigation, and advocacy.
Speakers
- Alana Jochum, State Policy Director, Advocates for Trans Equality
- Ian Thompson, Senior Legislative Advocate, ACLU
- Whit Washington, Senior Attorney, Nonbinary & Transgender Rights Project, Lambda Legal
- Deborah Lolai, Clinical Instructor, LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic and Lecturer-in-Law, Harvard Law School (moderator)
Related Resources
-
Talking About LGBTQ Issues messaging guides, Movement Advancement Project
-
Equality Federation: a resource to find the leading LGBTQ+ and trans-led policy organizations at the state level
-
Sen. Tom Cotton press release about introducing the Preventing Violence Against Female Inmates Act (S. 2985) on October 8, 2025
-
The Structure and Operation of the Transgender Criminal Legal System Nexus in the United States: Inequalities, Administrative Violence, and Injustice at Every Turn, Annual Review of Criminology Volume 7 (2024).
-
Policing Progress: Findings from a National Survey of LGBTQ+ People’s Experiences with Law Enforcement, American Civil Liberties Union (April 2024).
-
Advancing Transgender Justice: Illuminating Trans Lives Behind and Beyond Bars, Vera Institute of Justice and Black and Pink National (February 2024).
-
Overrepresentation of people who identify as LGBTQ+ in the criminal legal system, J Hereth, Chicago: Safety & Justice Challenge (2022).
-
Protected and Served?: 2022 Community Survey of LGBTQ+ People and People Living with HIV’s Experiences with the Criminal Legal System, Lambda Legal and Black and Pink National (2022).
-
Final Report, New York City Task Force on Issues Faced by TGNCNBI People in Custody (August 2022)
-
Joint statement from elected prosecutors and law enforcement leaders condemning the criminalization of transgender people and gender-affirming healthcare, Fair and Just Prosecution (2021).
-
Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails Transgender People, Movement Advancement Project and Center for American Progress (May 2016).
