Transgender Reported Rates of Violence

The transgender community is often targeted by hate crimes at greater levels thananyone else under the LGBTQAI+ umbrella but the true scope of the epidemic is far from understood due to dramatically low rates of reported hate crimes. The current study seeks to understand the relationship between transgender people and authorities through an indepth analysis of historical and current trends in reporting GIB hate crimes. In conjunction, I apply the notion of regional identity to hypothesize which US region(s) will have the highest rates of GIB inclusive policies based on their historical identities and socio-political underpinnings. I posit the Pacific, Mountain, New England, and Mid Atlantic (West and Northeastern) regions will have the highest rates of protection for transgender people from 2013-2019. Additionally, I assert there will be a moderate (0.2- 0.4 correlation coefficient) to high (0.4+ correlation coefficient) correlation between GIB inclusive policies and reported rates of violence. A simple linear regression found a high correlation (.934) between regional political identities and their rate of enacted GIB policies. Furthermore, based on the annual report data provided by the FBI, the regions with the highest tallies of GIB inclusive policies were the same regions with the highest rates of reported GIB hate crimes with an average of 0.537 over a seven-year time span. This study provides evidence that regional socio-political underpinnings directly affect policy enacted regarding GIB protections and that those policies are aligned with higher rates of reported violence.