Published July, 2016
Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBT People, Center for American Progress and Movement Advancement Project (2016)
This report examines the pervasive discrimination against LGBTQ people throughout the criminal legal system, from entry to exit. Stigma, discriminatory enforcement of laws, and harmful policing strategies and tactics all contribute to the overrepresentation of LGBTQ people in the criminal legal system. In addition, laws criminalizing HIV, poverty, and drug use may also have a severe impact on LGBTQ people. Once in the criminal legal system, LGBTQ people face two additional challenges: discrimination during criminal proceedings and discriminatory treatment during detention. Upon release from detention, LGBTQ people generally have little family support and face barriers to employment or housing because of the collateral consequences of conviction and anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
The report features personal accounts of discrimination and identifies several aspects of the criminal legal system in need of change to better serve LGBTQ people.
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