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Insider spent 18 months investigating 175 murders of transgender people. Here's what we found.
Insider spent 18 months investigating 175 murders of transgender people. Here's what we found.
Insider Investigations TeamJan 1, 2023, 01:12 IST
Insider investigated 175 recent homicides of transgender people.Insider
Killings of transgender people doubled between 2019 and 2021, as anti-trans legislation and rhetoric accelerated.
Most of the killers were young men in their teens and twenties, many of whom were intimate with their victims.
At least 39 transgender people were killed in acts of intimate violence, by spouses, partners, boyfriends, housemates, dates, or clients.
Only 28 killings out of 175 cases Insider examined resulted in murder convictions; only one resulted in a hate crimes conviction.
Starting in November, Insider published its series "Deaths in the family," a comprehensive investigation into five years of transgender homicides. It features infographics illustrating our starkest findings, including that homicides spiked just as states accelerated their introduction of anti-trans legislation, and eight long reads on law enforcement killings, hate crimes, intimate partner violence, the vulnerabilities of sex workers, unsolved cases, how transphobia colors the criminal justice system, the troubled history of police and the transgender community, and the fatal attack on an LGBTQ nightclub, Club Q, in November.
Read more about each of those stories below.
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Insider compiled a comprehensive account of the rising fatal violence targeting transgender people
Insider database of transgender homicides, 2017 – 2021
Only one killing was successfully prosecuted as a hate crime
Left to right: Layla Pelaez Sánchez, Nikki Kuhnhausen, and Serena Angelique Velázquez RamosInsider database of transgender homicides, 2017 – 2021
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Intimate partner violence dominated killings of transgender women
While Jaylow McGlory's Facebook page remained aglow with adoring posts about Desmond Harris and their new love, Harris' private texts to her turned threatening.Facebook image obtained by the Alexandria Police Department
Sex workers were particularly vulnerable
Charmaine Eccles met Ashanti Carmon when she was a teenager, and referred to her as her "daughter."Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for Insider
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There were no criminal charges filed in any of the police killings we tracked
An expert report prepared for Sean Hake's family by criminologist Paul McCauley described the conduct of the officers who shot him as "reckless."Paul McCauley
More than a third of cases remain unsolved
Ja'Koya Dowdell with a photograph she saved of her and Jaheim "Bella" Pugh, her chosen sister.Breahna Crosslin for Insider
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The police have a long, troubled history with transgender communities
A crowd of protesters confront police outside the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, June 28, 1969.NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images
Missteps and bias were frequent in the legal system
San Antonio's River Walk, where Kenne McFadden was pushed into the river by her date in April 2017 and drowned.Kaylee Greenlee Beal for Insider
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Colorado Springs was a center for anti-trans vitriol long before the deadly Club Q attack
Leia-jhene Seals mourns the Club Q dead at a November 20 vigil at All Souls Unitarian Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Seals was performing at Club Q when the shooter entered the nightclub.RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images