Queer (In)Justice

A groundbreaking work that turns a "queer eye"on the criminal legal system In March 2003-three decades after Stonewall-police stormed the Power Plant, a private Detroit club frequented by African American LGBT people. Over 350 people were handcuffed. Some were hit in the head and back; others were slammed into walls while being verbally abused. Their supposed crime was later chalked up to a bizarre infraction: "loitering inside a building." The event illuminated a long shadow of policing in America, where discrimination and prejudice are pervasive. Drawing on years of research, activism, and legal advocacy, Queer (In)Justice is a searing examination of the queer experience-as criminal defendants, prisoners, and survivors of violent crimes. The authors unpack queer criminal archetypes-like "gleeful gay killers," "lethal lesbians," and "disease spreaders"-to illustrate the punishment of queer expression, regardless of whether a crime was ever committed. And tracing stories from the judicial bench to the streets and behind prison bars, the authors prove that the policing of sex and gender both bolsters and reinforces racial and gender inequalities.

Joey L. Mogul is a partner at the People's Law Office in Chicago and director of the Civil Rights Clinic at DePaul University's College of Law. Andrea J. Ritchie is a police misconduct attorney and organizer in New York City. Kay Whitlock is a Montana-based organizer and writer whose work focuses on dismantling structural injustice in law enforcement and other public institutions.