Research Note: Comparing the Gay and Trans Panic Defenses

Abstract During the past fifty years, scholars have identified the following four ways that criminal defendants in the United States have used gay and trans panic defenses in murder cases involving victims who were gay men and transgender women: (1) insanity, (2) diminished capacity, (3) provocation, and (4) self-defense. While scholars have studied the first three defenses for gay men, little scholarship exists about the gay panic cases involving claims of self-defense. Additionally, there is a paucity of research regarding the trans panic defense. To address these empirical gaps, this research note uses open-source methods to study similarities between 99 homicide cases that occurred in the United States where criminal defendants made a gay or trans panic argument.