LGBTQ People's Experiences with Crime, Victimization, and the Criminal Legal System

The ebb and flow of social control efforts aimed at LGBTQ people necessitate a thorough investigation into their experiences. This review of the literature is organized around four key themes that characterize LGBTQ people's experiences with crime, criminalization, victimization, and the criminal legal system—including police, courts, and carceral facilities. LGBTQ people experience excessive rates of arrest and incarceration and have higher rates of victimization, which illustrate disproportionality. Their experiences differ from those of their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts and are conditioned by age, race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, illustrating intersectionality. The two primary, interrelated mechanisms driving LGBTQ criminalization and victimization are visibility and heteronormativity, which refers to the value systems that prioritize and reward being heterosexual and cisgender, stigmatize LGBTQ people, and encourage discriminatory treatment of people who are visibly LGBTQ. A discussion of future directions for research and policy concludes the article.