Part of the problem is that the justice system doesn't seem to work. A lot of these killers have already had long rap sheets before. I remember a case at an apartment complex next door to where I used to live where two bad guys broke into a college student's apartment with guns. These two criminals had already had 18 prior arrests between them yet were still on the street endangering the public. Luckily, the college kid happened to have a gun as well and took care of both bad guys permenately.
I've read a lot of the stories of hate crime murders of trans people. Many of these people did not get life sentences and some of them are already back out on street in just a matter of years after they were convicted. Even life in prison generally still means you could get out on parole. Then some of these killers are illegal aliens from Mexico who shouldn't have been allowed in in the first place.
I think it is great that the trans community is exposing these problems through programs such as the Transgender Day of Remembrance. However, other than getting the message out there, I'm just not seeing the police or the courts doing much. Even those who murdered Gwen Araujo who was not even an adult I believe will all be out of prison within a few years. There is something seriously wrong here. As mentioned above about my old neighboring apartment complex, one of these criminals had 10 arrests and the other 8 and if I recall they were barely in their 20s. If ten arrests for crimes including felonies aren't stopping them and they are only stopped when a homeowner kills them, that is a justice system nightmare. It also seems to appear that even murder is hardly investigated these days in major cities. Since there are so many of them, they simply have to get ready to send the detectives to the next one. It seems like sadly the best solution is to simply protect yourself the best you can because nobody else will and if someone does try to kill you and you survive the battle make sure you do so in a way that the bad guy will not be needing a trial.
