Transexual Murders in the U.S.--Are they hate crimes?

 Transgender murders gets a lot of attention in the press and are heavily emphasized by the trans-activist community with Transgender Day of Remembrance and many press reports keeping count of the year's transgender murders.  The implication is that these murders are hate crimes.  There has been one conviction and sentencing for the murder of a transgender person under U. S. hate crimes law.    Joshua Vallum  was sentenced to 49 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend Mercedes Williamson.  Vallum, a gang member, killed Williamson because he feared that his fellow gang members would discover that he had dated a transwoman.

The trans-activist community gets upset when anyone suggests that the murders of transpeople are more properly looked at as associated with prostitution, drugs, domestic violence, or robbery.
These murders are tragic for the victims whose lives are cut short and who always have hopes, dreams, and aspirations for their lives.  The murders are tragic for the family and friends of the victims.  The question I want to ask is how these murders can best be prevented.  To do that, we can't just assume that they are hate crimes.  We have to do our best to look at the specific circumstances of each murder.

I looked at transgender murders for the year 2014 in the U.S., hoping that police investigations, arrests, and trials would have been completed and we would have a good picture of what happened in each case.  The names came from the Wikipedia page listing transgender murder victims. Here is a brief outline of the victims and the outcomes of the cases, if known.  If anyone has more accurate information about arrests or trials of perpetrators please let me know and I will correct or update this blog


Yazmin Shanchez:  Race: Black.  Yazmin was shot and her body partially burnt.  Yazmin had a history of arrests for prostitution, cocaine and other charges.  Yazmin had been seeing Terry Brady, the man charged with the murder.    Brady had an extensive prior criminal record and was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.  The motive was Brady's anger was that Shanchez had publicly outed him as gay.

Kandy Hall:  Race: Black.  Found murdered in a field.  Kandy had four arrests for prostitution.  Not solved. 

Mia Henderson:  Race: Black.  Henderson had several prior arrests for prostitution and was killed in an area known as a "hotbed" for drugs and prostitution.  Shawn Oliver, the man charged, was acquitted.  He claimed they had consensual sex the day before.  Henderson, whose birth name was Kevin Long, was mourned by brother Reggie Bullock.  Reggie took a lot of heat from the transgender community for referring to Henderson through his own experience with a brother, rather than calling Henderson a sister.

Zoraida "Ale" Reyes:   Race: Mexican American immigrant.  Reyes and Parkerson, the murderer, met online and agreed to meet to have sex.  He says he accidentally strangled Reyes during a consensual encounter in a car.  Randy Parkerson was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life.

Tiffany Edwards: Race: Black.   Quamar Edwards, the murderer, shot Tiffany Edwards after giving her a ride and then deciding not to have sex.  Tiffany wanted money and they came to blows.  Both had extensive criminal records.

Alejandra Leos:  Race: Latina.  Leos was shot and killed by Marshall Pegues after a lover's quarrel.  Pegues was indicted for first degree murder.  I have not seen any follow-up to this case.

Aniya Parker:  Race: Black.  Parker was shot in the head in a drug related crime. Ulises Carcamo was convicted of murder and sentenced to 50 years.  Eric Carrillo, who was a minor at the time of the killing, testified in the case and got a plea deal.  He pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge and was sentenced to nine years.

Ashley Michelle Sherman:  Race: Black.  Ashley , also known as Tajshon, had an arrest record for prostitution and commercial sex and well as being reported as the victim of harassment and abuse.  This murder is unsolved.

Breana "Gizzy" Fowler:  Race: Black.  Mallory Porter shot Breana and later was arrested, took a plea deal and was sentenced to 15 years for the murder.  The two had met for sex.  I could not tell from the reporting what happened. Some reports say the two already knew each other, some say that Mallory thought Breana was a female and was surprised and scared to find out he was anatomically male.  Fowler presented as a male known as Gizzy to his friends, but had an online persona as a female named Breana.  

Deshwanda Sanchez:  Race: Black. Sanchez was shot by Robert Spells while pounding on a door for help.  The two knew each other, but police did not disclose what sort of relationship they had.  Robert James Spells was arrested and charged with murder during the course of a robbery.  He is facing 30 years to life and also is charged with sex trafficking an 11 year old girl.  It is not clear if Deshwanda's transgender status played a role in this crime.

The accounts that police, reporters, friends, and witnesses put together are always flawed by the fact that the murder victim does not get to speak.  The murderer, even when he confesses, still gets to tell his story and there is another side that we do not hear.  However, certain patterns stand out.  All transgender murders reported in the U. S. in 2014 were people of color.  There are many white transwomen, but they are not murder statistics.  Transmen are also not being murdered.

The situation with the murders of these transgender people of color is complex.  Two of these murders were unsolved at the time of this writing.   Multiple factors are involved in each case.  How can we tell, from a crime or a pubic health perspective, what the risk factors are?  What are the rates of murder in the cities where these murders occurred?  for men?  prostitutes in general?  women?  those involved in the drug world?

None of these murders is a clear cut hate crime in which the perpetrator decided to kill  a transgender person specifically because they were trans.  However, in two of the cases, Deshwanda Sanchez and Breana Fowler, the trans identity of the victim may have played a part.  If not for the trans identity or the presentation as a woman at the time of the murder, these crimes fall into familiar patterns of drug deals and prostitution, sexual meet ups, and robberies gone wrong or some kind of domestic dispute.

On the other hand, many female prostitutes are murdered every year and though these are not prosecuted as hate crimes, many could be.  Prostitutes are frequent targets of serial killers for instance and these killings would fit the definition of hate crimes if women are considered a targeted group.  However, this would require a change in police and prosecutor perceptions and practice when any prostitute is murdered.

In general the press reports are frustrating to read.  Trans-activists highlight what they call mis-gendering and dead naming of the victim.  Their focus is on getting the press and the police to use the gender the victim currently identifies as and the name the victim is currently using.  They complain that they may not know of the death of a friend because police used genitals to identify the victim's sex and report a legal name that may be different from the name current friends use.

On the other hand, reporting that uses a victim's gender presentation and name associated with the current gender identity may mean that family and old friends do not know of the death.  Family and old friends often only know the victim based on their personal experiences from the past.  So, a brother will mourn the death of the brother he grew up with, not the transgender woman he never knew.  It seems wrong to insist that only the most current gender identity and name be used, as that obscures the fact that the person has a history which includes a gender change. 

Also, a very broad definition of transgender may label people as trans who do not identify themselves as transgender. This further confuses the picture.  In reporting on these cases, press and police, to the extent they are able, have an interest in all the facts that may be relevant.  These facts include the birth name and sex as well as the current preferred gender identity and name.

How can such murders be prevented?  Are they best prevented by campaigns that humanize trans people and call for tolerance of difference?  Certainly such campaigns can be beneficial.  However,  would these particular murders have a better chance of being prevented by programs that help people leave prostitution or get clean from drugs, or give them job skills, or help them go to college?  Can life be made safer for those working as prostitutes?  Given that all the perpetrators were men and almost all had histories of crime and violence, would focusing more of our attention on perpetrators of violence help to reduce crimes such as those reported here?

Despite frequent claims to the contrary and the difficulty of finding reliable figures, transgender people do not appear to have the highest murder rate of any group.  The focus on gender identity may obscure more important underlying patterns of violence.  These calculations show that their murder rate is below that of both men and women in the U. S.  It is very difficult to get reliable statistics as there is considerable disagreement about who qualifies as transgender and many murders are not well investigated or are not reported in the press.  Clearly, we need to be more careful in gathering evidence and reporting statistics.

Many of the murdered transwomen were connected with prostitution, which is known to be a dangerous profession with high level of violence, including murder, perpetrated against them.  The murder rate for those involved in prostitution is particularly high as is the rate for those involved in illicit drug dealing.  Again, it is difficult to get reliable statistics on these rates, but this page gives some context and a death rate of 204/100,000 for prostitutes, which is a much higher rate than those calculated in the previous link for women, men, and transwomen.  It does suggest that these particular murders should not immediately be assumed to be "trans" murders, but need to be evaluated in the contexts of the particular communities these people lived in, in terms of poverty, race, and occupation.  How can we work to prevent future murders if we refuse to look carefully at the evidence that we have about the context of the murders of transwomen of color?