The LGBTQ community has made significant progress in the fight for equality in most American states. New Jersey is, in fact, one of the states in which the rights of the LGBTQ community are most recognized and protected. Among these rights are same sex union legalization, inclusion into child adoption eligibility, strict antidiscrimination and anti-bullying laws and the existence and enforcement of the third gender option. Challenges facing the community are however far from over, and one of the prevalent ones is their treatment in correctional centers. The state should have provisions for the treatment of members of the LGBTQ who are held in correctional facilities.
Statistics indicate that members of the LGBTQ community are significantly more likely to face harassment from law enforcement officers than non-LGBTQ members. This trend is exacerbated if the members are also members of other minority or marginalized groups such as the Latino or black American community (National Center for Transgender Equality, 2018). Moreover, members of the LGBTQ community still face other challenges in the community that predispose them to arrest and incarceration such as homelessness and poverty due to non-acceptance and rejection by families (National Center for Transgender Equality, 2018). Given their rising numbers in Jew Jersey correction centers, it is becoming increasingly important that their specific needs should be examined and addressed.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
New Jersey is one of the states which have made the greatest progress in LGBTQ rights. The progress that has been made in other legal rights of the LGBTQ rights is an advantage in the fight for their rights in incarceration facilities, given that New Jersey law has already demonstrated a significant level of acceptance to the communities (National Center for Transgender Equality, 2018). Frisking by officers who do not identify with the same gender as the LGBTQ member should be prohibited, given that LGBTQ members are protected by the same rights as all other American citizens (Fradella & Sumner, 2016). One of the community's greatest assets is the continual establishment within all legal and social circles of the fact that physical anatomy is secondary to a person's own feelings and self-identity.
According to a 2019 law enforcement directive Issued by the new Jersey Office of the Attorney General, transgender individuals are treated in the same way as cisgender members of the gender to which the identify, irrespective of their physical anatomy (Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive, 2019). In cases where a body search or frisking is invasive enough to require an officer of the same gender, gender here refers to the gender which one identifies with (Fradella & Sumner, 2016). There is no reason why this law should not be applicable in incarceration centers.
As a correctional officer, it is not only necessary to adhere to the existing laws and regulations, one must also uphold the basic tenets of humane treatment (Fradella & Sumner, 2016). Inmates are currently assigned correctional facilities based on their physical anatomy, which often leads to prisoners finding themselves incarcerated among those with whom they do not identify in the same gender (Peterson & Panfil, 2014). Inmates also reserve the right to request for a transfer to prisons that are aligned to their gender identity although these requests are also accepted or denied based on the physical anatomy of the requesting inmate (Peterson & Panfil, 2014). This remains a hurdle that is yet to be overcome.
In conclusion, LGBTQ members should be offered the treatment that conforms to their rights as Americans. While the New Jersey law does not have specific laws requiring that body searches be conducted by an officer of the same gender that the inmate identifies with, the same should be extended as a courtesy to inmates. One of the pitfalls of adopting this as a policy would be the possibility of increased cases of abuse, due to the allowance of invasive access of inmates by persons of the opposite anatomical gender.
References
Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive No. 2019-3 (November 20, 2019) Law Enforcement Interactions with Transgender Individuals. State of New Jersey, Office of the Attorney General
Fradella, H. F. & Sumner, J. M. (2016) Sex, Sexuality, Law, and (In) justice. Routledge.
National Center for Transgender Equality. (2018). LGBTQ People Behind Bars: A Guide to Understanding the Issues Facing Transgender Prisoners and Their Legal Rights. Available at: https://transequality.org/transpeoplebehindbars .
Peterson, D., & Panfil, V. R. (2014). Handbook of LGBT communities, crime, and justice.
