Association between Lifetime Victimization and Incarceration History and the Potential Moderation Effect of Gender Identity

Background & Purpose: Research indicates a relationship between early victimization history and incarceration, but less is known about the associations between lifetime victimization, including child and adult instances, and incarceration history. Additionally, little is known about the gendered nature of these associations, particularly in a context beyond the male/female binary on which most criminal legal scholarship has focused. The aim of this study was to examine the association between lifetime victimization and incarceration history and the potential moderating effect of gender identity for cis-, transgendered, and gender-diverse persons.

Methods. To ensure inclusion of gender diversity, this study utilized data from the TransPop survey study. TransPop was the first national random sample of transgender people in the U.S and collected comprehensive data on this population, including victimization and incarceration rates. Data were collected from a group of Transgender (N=274) and Cisgender (N=1,162) adults from 2016-2018. The final analytic sample size was 1,082 after removing cases with missing data on study variables and adjusting for all survey design effects. The dependent variable was whether an individual had ever been held in jail, prison, or juvenile detention (yes/no). The two primary independent variables were adult and childhood victimization measured on separate scales consisting of questions measuring sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Adult victimization scores ranged from 4-12, and childhood victimization scores ranged from 5-15, with higher numbers indicating more victimization experiences. The moderating effect of gender identity on the association between childhood victimization and incarceration history was also assessed. Gender identity was measured categorically as: cis-male, cis-female, trans-male, trans-female, and trans-nonbinary. Race, age, poverty, and education were included as covariates in the binary logistic regression models.

Results. Experiencing childhood victimization was associated with an increased odds of incarceration (aOR=1.14, p<.05) as was experiencing adult victimization (aOR=1.25, p<.001). Gender identity was also significantly associated with incarceration, with cis-female (aOR=.31, p<.05), trans-female (aOR=.32, p<.001), and trans-nonbinary genders (aOR=.34, p<.05) all having lower odds of incarceration compared with the reference group of cis-men. Having higher than a college education was also significant, (aOR=.24, p<.05), lowering odds of incarceration history by 76%. The moderating effect of gender identity on the association between adult/child victimization and incarceration was not significant, indicating that gender identity did not significantly change the relationship between adult or childhood victimization and incarceration.

Conclusions & Implications. This study is one of a few to include trans and gender-diverse participants when attempting to understand how pathways to incarceration might be impacted by gender. Both childhood and adult victimization were associated with an increased risk for incarceration in a sample of U.S adults, though this relationship was not moderated by gender identity. The findings are consistent with existing research and provide evidence that not just childhood victimization, but also adult victimization increases incarceration risk. Social workers have an important role in understanding this association and advocating for services that address victimization for incarcerated populations, with attention to potentially gendered needs.