Intro to LGBTQ+ Studies

Institutional Violence

Dr. Cabell Gathman

November 18, 2015

Overview

Admin stuffSystems vs. individualsMechanisms & outcomesPolicing & safetyBias crime

Admin stuff

Exam #2 short answers graded by MondayAnti-trans bathroom bill testimony TOMORROW (11/19) at

10am, Wisconsin CapitolExtra credit: 1/2 percentage point on final grade

Write-up analysis of proposed law in connection with class materials (500 words) & email to instructor by noon Monday (11/23)

Email instructor photo of self waiting to testify (indicate permission to publish on course FB ONLY IF you want to)

Admin stuff (cont.)

Extra credit option #2 (also 1/2 percentage point on final grade): Write 500-word comparison of Paris Is Burning and The Salt Mines (link to be posted on Learn@UW)

Due via email to TA no later than 12pm, Monday, 12/14

You can do both!

Institutional violence

HIV/AIDS lack of responseLack of adequate healthcare in general

Treatment of sex workersAlso: circumstances leading to survival sex work

Treatment of homeless20-40% of homeless youth LGBTQ+

State violence

Systems vs. individuals

Healthcare, education, law enforcement all large social institutionsIndividual members may have little power over

what the institution does or howGood people can be part of a system that creates

bad outcomesOften few systemic checks on bad actors within

institutions

Seeing the system

What are some things that you have had to convince people really do happen?Women: Things men don’t realize happen?Disabled people/PWD: Things abled people

don’t realize happen?Fat people: Things thin people don’t realize

happen?

Mechanisms & outcomes

What are outcomes for different groups?Finding: LGBTQ+ youth about 6% of

population; 15% of juvenile detention population (Burdge et al. 2014): Why?

Finding: Black people 13% of US population; 40% of incarcerated population (2010 Census): Why?

People of color targeted at every level

More likely to be surveilledMore likely to be arrestedMore likely to be chargedLess likely to be represented on juriesMore likely to be convictedReceive heavier sentences/penalties

Stages of criminal justice

Convictions & sentences (94-97% cases settled by plea deal)

JuriesChargesArrestsSurveillanceCitizen involvement

NextDoor.com & racial profiling

Subject of recent news coverage in Oakland

Rampant in my neighborhood in southwest Madison

White citizens calling police on POC (esp Black kids) are part of the problem

Why the focus on police?

With great power comes great responsibility?

No accurate nationwide record of number of people killed by policeOut of ~2800 known police killings

from 2005-2011, officer charged in ~3%

Arrest rates

Black adults more likely to be arrested than White adultsUS overall: 2.5x more likelyFerguson, MO: 3x more likelyWisconsin: 4x more likelyDane County (Madison): 8x more likely

Arrest rates (cont.)

2013: 1,000 Black children age 10-17 arrested in Madison

Total number of Black children age 10-17 in Madison in 2013: 3,247

Black children in Madison arrested at 14 times the rate of White children

Incarceration

Black men ~7x more likely to be imprisoned than White men

Black women ~3x more likely than White women

Black youth disproportionately charged, imprisoned, & put through school-to-prison pipeline

Incarceration

Incarceration

Incarceration & violence

Deaths in custodyEX: Sandra Bland (Black woman), Rexdale Henry (Native

man)

Violence in prison systemPrivatization

EX: Food, healthcare

See handout on trans incarceration

Police harassment

Monica JonesArizona activist for trans and sex worker rights,

arrested on suspicion of sex work for “walking while Black and trans”

Original conviction overturned; city of Phoenix then dropped charges

Trans people, especially trans women, often targeted by police (cf. Stonewall)

Police violence

Daniel HoltzclawWhite Oklahoma police officer on trial for sexual assault of 13 Black girls & women (ages 17-50)

Sexual abuse second-most reported police misconduct after excessive forceSignificantly higher than FBI numbers for gen popOften associated with “stop and frisk” (cf. 1960s NYC)

Police violence (cont.)

“Starlight tours” in Saskatoon (Canada)Saskatoon freezing deaths (2001-2003; possibly

dating from mid-1970s)Michael Brown (2014) & numerous abuses in

Ferguson, Missouri“Rough rides” in Baltimore

Freddie Gray (2015)Jamar Clark in Minneapolis (November 15, 2015)

Who is a criminal?

Raise your hand if you’ve broken the law in the last monthNow raise your hand if you’re a “criminal”

“Criminals” are people who get arrestedPeople of color & their neighborhoods more

likely to be policed in the first place

Community policing

For many people, police presence is traumatizingRacism & PTSD (Dr. Monnica Williams)

Fear that police presence will lead to more violent interactionsBlack Americans more likely to be killed by

police than White Americans (estimates range 2-8x)Other risk factors: mental illness, disability, poverty

Who expects police protection?

Victims of violence often blamed or criminalizedEX: Cierra Finkley (Madison)EX: Marissa Alexander (Florida)EX: Trayvon Martin (Florida)EX: Gwen Araujo (Colorado)

Note: At least 15 of 21 known murdered trans women in 2015 were TWOC

Queer Black women of #BlackLivesMatter

Alicia GarzaOrganized against police brutality, racism, and violence

against trans & GNC POC; domestic workers’ advocatePatrisse Cullors

Prisoners’ rights advocate; led think tank on state & vigilante violence

Opal TometiImmigration & racial justice activist; Black feminist writer

Queer Black women of #BlackLivesMatter

Bias crime

“A hate crime or bias motivated crime occurs when the perpetrator of the crime intentionally selects the victim because of his or her membership in a certain group” (Williams Institute 2007)

“…a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation” (fbi.gov)

Bias crime targets(FBI 2013 data)

11.1% by ethnicity48.5% by race

66.4% anti-Black bias21.4% anti-White bias

1.4% by disability0.3% by gender

First year collected

0.5% by gender identity First year collected

19.2% by sexual orientation60.6% classified as

anti-gay (male)

Hate violence & police

Half of hate violence victims do not file a report25.4% of trans women (all races) do not file a

reportBlack people more likely to be victims AND

more likely to be convicted of bias crimeIncreases in incarceration correspond to

increases in violence

“Leelah’s law”

Push to criminalize “conversion therapy” of minors following Leelah Alcorn’s suicide; make it easier to remove children from homes

Intention seems clear, but what are likely consequences? For whom?

How can marginalized people be protected from violence?