In Illinois and all over the country, transgender people are systematically disadvantaged within the pretrial legal system. Black trans women are particularly impacted. Disparities in economic opportunity, inadequate access to supportive services, and transphobic marginalization all make trans people more susceptible to arrest and incarceration and compound disadvantages in the court system.

For many trans people, targeting by the criminal legal system begins with police harassment. One in five transgender people experience violence during police interactions. Black trans people are especially affected: nearly 40% of transgender people are subjected to police violence. Systemic transphobia also contributes to high rates of incarceration, with one in five trans women and nearly half of all Black trans people experiencing incarceration at some point in their lives. 

If a trans person is jailed after arrest, pretrial incarceration poses grave risks to their health and safety. For trans people living with HIV, interrupted access to care in jail can lead to worsened health conditions and increased viral loads, exacerbating an already dangerous situation. Additionally, a study conducted by the UCLA Williams Institiute found that 81% of transgender people experienced suicidal ideation and more than 40% had attempted suicide. In jails, suicide risk escalates significantly, with suicide being the leading cause of death in jails, disproportionately affecting people incarcerated awaiting trial. The risks of torture, abuse, and sexual assault are heightened, compounded by mis-gendering and housing placements that do not align with gender identity. It is essential to ensure access to healthcare, including gender-affirming care and mental healthcare, for LGBTQ+ individuals in jails, prisons, and other carceral facilities.

The invisibility of trans people in data collection efforts and policy formulation further contributes to this systemic discrimination. Official reports overlook trans issues, contributing to underreporting and marginalization. Misgendering within the criminal legal system further compounds this issue, erasing transgender people, their needs, and experiences from official records. There is an urgent need to increase collection of comprehensive data on trans, gender non-conforming, and broader queer experiences within the pretrial legal system to inform the development of targeted policies to reduce criminalization and incarceration.

Recognizing the pervasive transphobia within our criminal legal system, particular attention must be directed towards the pretrial stage. Reforms in pretrial policy and process have the potential to magnify their impact by reducing the likelihood trans people are subject to increased rates of conviction and incarceration at later stages of the criminal legal system. Aside from changes within the court system to increase pretrial release and decrease bias from court actors, the most important policy changes are ones that prevent trans people from ever coming into contact with police and criminal courts in the first place. These include efforts to build thriving, safe communities for all residents using a lens that not only includes but centers Black and Indigenous trans people. Ultimately, the best way to protect trans people from the harms of pretrial incarceration is to significantly reduce the arrest, prosecution, and jailing of trans people.