Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Towards Freedom, Empowerment, and Agency: An Introduction to Queering Criminology in Theory and Praxis: Reimagining Justice in the Criminal Legal System and Beyond
- 1 Gender-and Sexuality-Based Violence among LGBTQ People: An Empirical Test of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory
- 2 Queer Pathways
- 3 Queer Criminology and the Destabilization of Child Sexual Abuse
- 4 Queer(y)ing the Experiences of LGBTQ Workers in Criminal Processing Systems
- 5 ‘PREA Is a Joke’: A Case Study of How Trans PREA Standards Are(n’t) Enforced
- 6 Queerly Navigating the System: Trans* Experiences Under State Surveillance
- 7 Sex-Gender Defining Laws, Birth Certificates, and Identity
- 8 Effects of Intimate Partner Violence in the LGBTQ Community: A Systematic Review
- 9 Health Covariates of Intimate Partner Violence in a National Transgender Sample
- 10 Serving Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex Youth in Alameda County’s Juvenile Hall
- 11 Liberating Black Youth across the Gender Spectrum Through the Deconstruction of the White Femininity/Black Masculinity Duality
- 12 ‘I Thought They Were Supposed to Be on My Side’: What Jane Doe’s Experience Teaches Us about Institutional Harm against Trans Youth
- 13 The Role of Adolescent Friendship Networks in Queer Youth’s Delinquency
- 14 ‘At the Very Least’: Politics and Praxis of Bail Fund Organizers and the Potential for Queer Liberation
- 15 A Conspiracy
- 16 LGBTQ+ Homelessness: Resource Obtainment and Issues with Shelters
- 17 The Color of Queer Theory in Social Work and Criminology Practice: A World without Empathy
- 18 Camouflaged: Tackling the Invisibility of LGBTQ+ Veterans When Accessing Care
- 19 Barriers to Reporting, Barriers to Services: Challenges for Transgender Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Victimization
- Conclusion: What Does It Mean to Do Justice? Current and Future Directions in Queer Criminological Research and Practice
- Index
12 - ‘I Thought They Were Supposed to Be on My Side’: What Jane Doe’s Experience Teaches Us about Institutional Harm against Trans Youth
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Towards Freedom, Empowerment, and Agency: An Introduction to Queering Criminology in Theory and Praxis: Reimagining Justice in the Criminal Legal System and Beyond
- 1 Gender-and Sexuality-Based Violence among LGBTQ People: An Empirical Test of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory
- 2 Queer Pathways
- 3 Queer Criminology and the Destabilization of Child Sexual Abuse
- 4 Queer(y)ing the Experiences of LGBTQ Workers in Criminal Processing Systems
- 5 ‘PREA Is a Joke’: A Case Study of How Trans PREA Standards Are(n’t) Enforced
- 6 Queerly Navigating the System: Trans* Experiences Under State Surveillance
- 7 Sex-Gender Defining Laws, Birth Certificates, and Identity
- 8 Effects of Intimate Partner Violence in the LGBTQ Community: A Systematic Review
- 9 Health Covariates of Intimate Partner Violence in a National Transgender Sample
- 10 Serving Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex Youth in Alameda County’s Juvenile Hall
- 11 Liberating Black Youth across the Gender Spectrum Through the Deconstruction of the White Femininity/Black Masculinity Duality
- 12 ‘I Thought They Were Supposed to Be on My Side’: What Jane Doe’s Experience Teaches Us about Institutional Harm against Trans Youth
- 13 The Role of Adolescent Friendship Networks in Queer Youth’s Delinquency
- 14 ‘At the Very Least’: Politics and Praxis of Bail Fund Organizers and the Potential for Queer Liberation
- 15 A Conspiracy
- 16 LGBTQ+ Homelessness: Resource Obtainment and Issues with Shelters
- 17 The Color of Queer Theory in Social Work and Criminology Practice: A World without Empathy
- 18 Camouflaged: Tackling the Invisibility of LGBTQ+ Veterans When Accessing Care
- 19 Barriers to Reporting, Barriers to Services: Challenges for Transgender Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Victimization
- Conclusion: What Does It Mean to Do Justice? Current and Future Directions in Queer Criminological Research and Practice
- Index
Summary
A pressing issue for the child welfare and juvenile justice systems is the treatment of LGBTQ youth in facilities and under the care of the state, particularly transgender youth. Unfortunately, these youth often do not receive affirming, effective care, nor responsible and suitable placements. Thus, while young trans people may experience interpersonal harm, they also face institutional harm perpetuated by police, courts, juvenile correctional facilities, child welfare agencies, and other institutional entities, which repeatedly occurs in what seems to be a coordinated effort to allow violence and stigma to flourish as they fail to protect these youth.
We explore the facets of this issue by focusing on the case study of Jane Doe, a transgender teen whose plight caught the eye of activists and the media. She had been under the custody of the Department of Children and Family (DCF) Services from early childhood and had repeatedly experienced sexual assault while under the care of the state. She also spent time in an adult carceral facility – including in solitary confinement – despite not having been charged with a crime and was briefly psychiatrically hospitalized. Nowhere was she given meaningful support for her gender transition. For years prior to being institutionalized, Jane Doe experienced pervasive, severe physical and sexual abuse from family members on the basis of her transgender identity, had engaged in survival sex, and was coping with the pain of her trauma through illicit drug use. Despite a lawsuit filed on her behalf, it seemed that the only respite Jane had from harmful placements was aging out of DCF care.
Jane Doe's story is tragic and, although extreme in some instances, crystallizes many relevant issues for transgender youth in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. We complement our analysis of this case study with relevant empirical data about LGBTQ youths’ experiences in families, schools, communities, the child welfare system, and the juvenile justice system. Doing so allows us to paint a portrait of the structural issues at play in instances of serious system failure, as with Jane Doe. Consistent with the practical goals of this volume, we discuss ten policy recommendations we see as stemming from this case. Our recommendations are targeted at various levels of intervention, including institutional, interpersonal, and even society-wide.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Queering Criminology in Theory and PraxisReimagining Justice in the Criminal Legal System and Beyond, pp. 175 - 188Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2022