Pathways Leading to Arrest for Transgender Women.

This study examines the pathways leading to police contact, arrest, and criminal legal system involvement among transgender women, focusing on a sample of 21 young transgender women in Chicago. Using feminist pathways theory and life history interviews, the research finds that transgender women's pathways share similarities with those of cisgender women—such as engagement in criminalized survival strategies like sex work, theft, and homelessness—but are distinctly shaped by anti-transgender discrimination, family rejection, and intersecting racism, particularly affecting transgender women of color. The study highlights how systemic failures in families, schools, child welfare, and social services contribute to these pathways, while also identifying resilience and protective factors, including social support and legal name changes, that may reduce criminal legal system involvement. The findings underscore the need for multi-level interventions addressing structural oppression, decriminalization of survival behaviors, and accountability for police bias to prevent the overrepresentation of transgender women in the criminal legal system.