http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/06/criminalization_gay_transgender_youth.htmlThe Unfair Criminalization of Gay and Transgender YouthAn Overview of the Experiences of LGBT Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
By Jerome Hunt, Aisha C. Moodie-Mills | June 29, 2012
Despite the disproportionately high rates of gay and transgender youth entering the juvenile justice system, our nation's schools, law enforcement officers, district attorneys, judges, and juvenile defenders are not equipped to manage the unique experiences and challenges that these young people face. As a consequence, the system often does more harm by unfairly criminalizing these youth—imposing harsh school sanctions, labeling them as sex offenders, or detaining them for minor offenses—in addition to subjecting them to discriminatory and harmful treatment that deprives them of their basic civil rights
....This issue brief offers a high-level summary of some of their findings, as well as others, to explain the disproportionate pipelining of gay and transgender youth into the juvenile justice system, the bias and discrimination they face once within the system, and the steps that the federal government and state and local juvenile courts can take to ensure that gay and transgender youth are treated with dignity and respect.
