Queering Law and Order: LGBTQ Communities and the Criminal Justice System

by Kevin Leo Yabut Nadal

Throughout US history, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people have been pathologized, victimized, and criminalized. Reports of lynching, burning, or murdering of LGBTQ people have been documented for centuries. Prior to the 1970s, LGBTQ people were deemed as having psychological disorders and subsequently subject to electroshock therapy and other ineffective and cruel treatments. LGBTQ people have historically been arrested or imprisoned for crimes like sodomy, cross-dressing, and gathering in public spaces. And while there have been many strides to advocate for LGBTQ rights in contemporary times, there are still many ways that the criminal justice system works against LGBTQ and their lives, liberties, and freedoms.

Queering Law and Order: LGBTQ Communities and the Criminal Justice System examines the state of LGBTQ people within the criminal justice system. Intertwining legal cases, academic research, and popular media, Nadal reviews a wide range of issues—ranging from historical heterosexist and transphobic legislation to police brutality to the prison industrial complex to family law. Grounded in Queer Theory and intersectional lenses, each chapter provides recommendations for queering and disrupting the justice system. This book serves as both an academic resource and a call to action for readers who are interested in advocating for LGBTQ rights.

266 pages, Hardcover

Published July 22, 2020

Reviews

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a class, but it was so interesting and taught be so much about the history of and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A critical commentary on the ways that members of the LGBTQ+ community are significantly underserved by the legal and criminal justice systems in the United States, as compared to their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts. Importantly, Nadal addresses intersectionality, demonstrating throughout how those with identities drawing from multiple marginalized groups are even less well served than their "single-group" peers. Nadal offers categorical corrective actions at the close of each chapter.

[Ceci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was HEAVY. It was vital, important, well researched, detailed, compassionate, empathetic, and incredibly hard to read. Absolutely recommended for anyone who works in policy, law, advocacy, a helping professional... Literally anyone.

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and heartwrenching history lesson about law and order and the way queer people are harmed by those systems. I just wish the writing were a bit less lofty and dry, so it would be more accessible.