Gender Identity Disparities in Criminal Victimization: National Crime Victimization Survey, 2017–2018

Abstract

Objectives. To estimate the prevalence of personal and household victimizations among transgender people in the United States. Methods. We analyzed pooled 2017 and 2018 data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, the first nationally representative sample that allows identification of transgender respondents. Results. Transgender people experienced 86.2 victimizations per 1000 persons compared with cisgender people’s 21.7 per 1000 persons (odds ratio [OR] = 4.24; 90% confidence interval [CI] = 1.49, 7.00). Households that had a transgender person had higher rates of property victimization (214.1 per 1000 households) than households with only cisgender people (108 per 1000 households; OR = 2.25; 90% CI = 1.19, 3.31). Transgender victims whose sex assigned at birth was male were more likely to perceive their victimization as a hate crime than cisgender victims whose sex assigned at birth was male. There were no disparities in reporting victimizations to authorities: only about half of the victimizations of both transgender and cisgender people were reported. Conclusions. Public policy and administration need to consider the unique vulnerabilities transgender people routinely encounter, resulting in disparities in criminal victimization.