Alex Phistry on Objection!

In Andrea Ritchie’s piece entitled “Objections! Treatment of Queers in Criminal Court” she relays numerous instances in which queer people have been unjustly treated in criminal courts in America; particularly, she opens her piece with the story of Rene Chinea’s murder and Miguel Castillo’s wrongful conviction. She drives her argument by stating, “the stigma of laws explicitly criminalizing queer identities and sexualities has left an enduring stain on the notion of justice, continuing to inform the treatment of queers in courts, particularly when accused in criminal cases,” (Ritchie 73). In doing so, Ritchie argues that in many cases, queer people are not only criminalized on the basis of their sexuality or gender presentation, but also on the basis of stereotypes perpetuated by a heteronormative society, and are usually treated harsher in interrogations by police as well as on trial by prosecutors, judges, juries, and sometimes even their own defense lawyers.

The notion that queer people are treated more harshly by the criminal justice system is not new; it was this harsh treatment that led to major events in queer history such as the Stonewall Riots and the riot in Compton’s Cafeteria. The most striking part of Ritchie’s piece, in my opinion, was the story of Rene Chinea’s murder and Miguel Castillo’s wrongful conviction. The fact that the Chicago Police Department was able to make an arrest on basically entirely circumstantial evidence and an obviously coerced confession is infuriating, especially when their reasoning for doing so was based on blatantly homophobic stereotypes of gay men and the relationships they have. However, the story was not surprising as the CPD has a long history of skewing the lines of the law.

The story of Miguel Castillo’s wrongful conviction made me think about the numerous occasions within the last decade in which I have heard of wrongdoings by the CPD, particularly with white cops, particularly with victims being people of color and/or belonging to the LGBTQIA community. The shooting and attempted cover-up of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by white police officer Jason Van Dyke is a prime, widely known example. Other examples would be the several trans women of color who have been found dead around Chicago within the last two decades. Their deaths were not covered by local news, nor were they fully investigated by the police. It seems as though the CPD not only criminalizes the queer community in the court system, but they also do so in their lack of care for victims of color/victims belonging to the queer community.

Though the history of CPD’s harsh treatment and lack of sympathy for the queer community is nothing new, it is still disheartening to say the least. I am not saying it is the entire CPD who overly criminalizes the queer and POC communities, nor am I saying that this phenomenon only occurs in Chicago. I am saying that there are a multitude of stories in which queer people and people of color are criminalized, given unfair treatment throughout their entire judicial process, and who are treated as criminals even when they are the victims. Ritchie addresses several of these cases in her piece and it clearly demonstrates that this is and has been an ongoing problem for the queer community as well as in communities with a majority of POC. Violence and lack of sensitivity/understanding by the law and judicial systems are perpetuating these cycles of violence within these communities. In doing so, they are creating the stigmas by which most of the people perpetuating them are so afraid of. In order to facilitate more understanding, a major change in the way the legal/judicial systems view the queer and POC communities.

Ritchie highlights numerous instances of violence against POC and the queer community. Why do actions like this keep taking place? Why is hatred, disgust, and lack of understanding/sympathy a norm that is continuously perpetuated by the legal/judicial systems within these communities?