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
4 - Queer(y)ing the Experiences of LGBTQ Workers in Criminal Processing Systems
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
This chapter examines research focused on the work lives of queer criminal processing system professionals. Despite nearly four decades of study, the main focus of research has been on queer officers in policing, specifically lesbian and gay police officers’ experiences, with limited research about bisexual and transgender police officers and almost none about nonbinary police officers. Beyond policing, we know very little about queer professionals within other parts of the criminal processing systems, such as the courts or corrections. Furthermore, professionals in prosecution and defense, parole, and other ancillary branches of the system are also seriously understudied. With the limitations on the existing knowledge base, we argue that it would be erroneous to conclude that these employees’ full equity and inclusion have been achieved. Instead, the research demonstrates that while there have been some advancements, substantial (and often systemic) discrimination and harassment are still endured by these workers. They remain victims of inequity and exclusion at the hands of both work colleagues and the public. In addition to documenting these queer professionals’ experiences, we also discuss their collective efforts to improve internal and external equity for themselves and others.
The context of criminal processing systems
While we have radically reformed aspects of criminal processing systems globally –such as decriminalizing drugs in Portugal and more humanistic approaches adopted in Finnish prisons – other systems continue to compound injustice. Militarized police systems, for instance, continue to serve as the gateway to criminal processing systems worldwide. In much of the world, this translates into disproportionate policing negatively affecting minority populations. The militarized police systems foster a masculine, heterosexist orthodoxy among officers. Within this masculine backdrop, being queer and being a police officer represented dual – often conflicting – identities. Early research focused on how officers reconciled a ‘deviant’ identity with their law enforcement role as regulators of deviance (Leinen, 1993; Burke, 1993). Although evidence suggests the policing ‘cult of masculinity’ is buckling (Silvestri, 2017), the adverse effects of hegemonic masculinity have been shown to impact the lives of all police officers on the force, not just female officers (Cordner & Cordner, 2011).
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- Queering Criminology in Theory and PraxisReimagining Justice in the Criminal Legal System and Beyond, pp. 56 - 69Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2022