The Gender-to-Prison Pipeline

For this project, our team and Dominique Morgan examine the “gender-to-prison pipeline” – the process by which Black gender expansive youth, particularly Black trans girls, are fast-tracked and consigned to incarceration just by transitioning their gender expression.   

Our goal is to examine the lived experiences and determine the trajectory that moves young Black trans girls through the pipeline. Data has already established that juvenile cisgender girls are almost always in the carceral system for non-violent offenses, and the remaining cases are often involved in sex trafficking related offenses, in which cases these young people are victims.  

We hypothesize that Black trans girls, Black gender expansive youth, and Black queer girls are particularly vulnerable to involvement in such offenses, and therefore enter the carceral system at a disproportionate rate to their peers due to unsupportive and/or unsafe (i.e. transphobic) family homes. Should this hypothesis be supported by data, advocates such as Black & Pink National can begin the work to disrupt the trajectory through the gender-to-prison pipeline and invite partners to join us in doing so.