Executive Summary
In 2022, the Williams Institute analyzed enforcement of HIV-related laws in Tennessee, including sex work statutes that impose enhanced penalties based on a person’s HIV-positive status. The analysis found that a substantial share of HIV-related sex work convictions occurred in Shelby County, particularly in Memphis. Black women experiencing economic vulnerability accounted for nearly three-fourths of those affected by the state’s HIV-related sex work criminal law. Although a growing body of research identifies gender-based disparities in HIV criminal enforcement, this research is generally not able to identify transgender and other gender diverse individuals. Similarly, Tennessee’s crime data systems classify individuals only as male or female, preventing researchers from examining how HIV-related criminal enforcement affects transgender people. The limitation reflects a broader gap in empirical research on transgender-specific experiences within the criminal legal system.
This report addresses that gap by directly examining how transgender people experience the enforcement of criminal laws, including those that focus on HIV status, in Memphis, Tennessee. Drawing on focus group and in-depth interviews with 24 participants—each with current or prior experience in sex work and/or contact with the criminal legal system, and many of them living with HIV—this study provides contextual, narrative-based evidence of how intersecting identities shape legal system interactions. Specifically, this report analyzes how gender identity, race, HIV status, and history of sex work affect encounters with police, courts, jails, and prisons.
Participants in this study primarily characterized their interactions with Tennessee’s criminal legal system as negative. They described how economic circumstances, transgender visibility, and engagement in economic survival activities increased exposure to police surveillance and enforcement. Participants further described how routine policing practices and jail conditions created structural barriers to safety, stability, and continuity of care. These findings align with national research demonstrating that transgender individuals, particularly those engaged in sex work, face disproportionately high rates of police interaction, harassment, and violence.
Key Findings
Assumed Criminality
- Participants consistently described being viewed and treated as criminals based solely on appearance or presence in public places. Officers routinely conducted stops, demanded identification, and ran warrant checks without clear apparent cause for doing so.
- Individuals perceived as transgender, especially transgender women of color, were frequently presumed to be engaged in sex work, regardless of behavior.
- Participants also reported being misidentified as perpetrators of crime when they sought help for or attempted to report domestic incidents to police.
Verbal Harms
- Frequent misgendering and deadnaming were reported across encounters with law enforcement and jail correctional staff. These interactions were described as dehumanizing and deeply distressing.
Physical Harm
- Participants described routine encounters with law enforcement officers escalating into physical violence once their transgender status became suspected or known.
- Participants reported being forcibly removed from vehicles, aggressively handcuffed, physically restrained, or placed in unsafe conditions (e.g., locked in a hot patrol car), even when they were compliant and posed no threat.
Sexual Assault/Coercion by Law Enforcement
- Multiple participants described sexual coercion and assault by police officers, including under threat of arrest.
- Participants emphasized that fear of retaliation, disbelief, and further criminalization prevented reporting of police misconduct to law enforcement agencies.
Jail Experiences
- Participants described incarceration experiences that included verbal abuse and harassment, and that failed to protect participants from other detainees.
- Reports included humiliating strip searches, denial or irregular provision of medical care, and placement in facilities inconsistent with gender identity, increasing their vulnerability.
- Participants feared physical and sexual harm while in custody.
Navigating for Safety
- Participants described adopting strategies to minimize harm, including emotional self-regulation, silence during encounters, and avoidance of police altogether.
- Many reported that avoiding law enforcement, even when victimized, was the safest option.
- Tactics to minimize police contact included staying away from certain neighborhoods, limiting time in public, staying silent during stops, or refraining from calling police, even when in danger.
These findings suggest that transgender individuals, particularly Black transgender women with histories of economic marginalization or sex work, experience the criminal legal system not as a source of protection, but as a system of surveillance, coercion, and harm. For transgender people in Memphis, gender identity and race—not HIV status—were the primary factors driving police contact. However, HIV status compounded these harms by intensifying criminal legal consequences, including through longer sentences. Moreover, transgender people in Memphis, including those who may benefit from police protection, are often deterred from seeking police aid.