Study: Gay Youths Targeted for Harsher Punishments

A new study indicates that in addition to enduring social rejection, GLBT youth may also be targeted for harsher punishments for the same conduct as their heterosexual peers engage in.

The study was written by researchers at Yale University. Its results suggest that GLTB youths, particularly young women, come in for harsher punishments at school as well as in the justice system. The study appeared in the journal Pediatrics on Dec. 6.

"Nonheterosexual adolescents are vulnerable to health risks including addiction, bullying, and familial abuse. We examined whether they also suffer disproportionate school and criminal-justice sanctions," the study, written by Kathryn E. W. Himmelstein, BA, and Hannah Br�ckner, Ph.D., states. The results of the study, titled Criminal-Justice and School Sanctions Against Nonheterosexual Youth: A National Longitudinal Study, are stated in the report to be as follows: "Nonheterosexuality consistently predicted a higher risk for sanctions.

"For example, in multivariate analyses, nonheterosexual adolescents had greater odds of being stopped by the police," the report continues. "Similar trends were observed for school expulsion, juvenile arrest and conviction, and adult conviction. Nonheterosexual girls were at particularly high risk." The report went on to conclude that GLBT youths "suffer disproportionate educational and criminal-justice punishments that are not explained by greater engagement in illegal or transgressive behaviors. Understanding and addressing these disparities might reduce school expulsions, arrests, and incarceration and their dire social and health consequences."

The study's findings included the observation that GLBT youths were 40% more likely to suffer harsher punishment for the same conduct that resulted in less severe penalties for heterosexual youths, a Dec. 6 CBS News article said.

Himmelstein suggested that the results could reflect an unconscious unease with youths, particularly young women, who do not fit widely accepted gender norms. "It may very well be not intentional," Himmelstein told the media. "I think most people who work with youth want to do the best they can for young people and treat them fairly, but our findings show that's not happening." Himmelstein added that academic and criminal records could limit the later life choices and opportunities enjoyed by GLBT youths.

Himmelstein boiled it down into plain language for the New York Times, which reported on the study on Dec. 6. "Gay, lesbian and bisexual kids are being punished by police, courts and by school officials, and it's not because they're misbehaving more," said Himmelstein.

The New York Times article related that during a stint in the juvenile justice system, Himmelstein saw that more GLBT youths were being placed under arrest and put on trial for their misdeeds. Finding no existing scholarly literature that could answer the question of whether GLBT youths get into more trouble that straight youths, or are preferentially subjected to harsher treatment for the same conduct, Himmelstein decided to conduct her own research.

Though the study does not address specific causes for the trend it identifies, the article said, it does use the results to bolster the conclusion that schools and the justice system operate under an anti-GLBT bias.

The study also noted that even though GLBT youths are more likely to be punished more severely than heterosexual youths, they are, at the same time, less likely than straight youths to commit violent crimes.

Though the bulk of the study took place in the 1990s, the study's conclusions are applicable to today's concerns. Himmelstein noted that there were possible correspondences between the tendency of adults in positions of authority to treat GLBT youths more harshly and the anti-gay bullying onto which a rash of recent youth suicides has cast a light. Research from national safe schools organization the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has indicated that although most gay youths endure anti-gay harassment at school, teachers and administrators often either ignore the abuse, or perpetrate it themselves.

At least one professional who works with GLBT youth espoused little astonishment at the scholarly study's results. "This is a symptom of school administrators, teachers, court officials, police officers--anyone who works with youth--not necessarily being equipped to handle the challenges" presented by youths who misbehave, said the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League's executive director, Andrew Barnett. "It's much easier to punish the youth than to work with them and figure out why they may keep getting in fights and what is leading to this behavior."

"I think it really calls for professional development [for school teachers and administrators] and how to address bullying and harassment when they happen," said GLSEN's Joseph Kosciw.

The Gay-Straight Alliance also responded to the study. Gay news blog JoeMyGod reported that the Executive Director of Gay-Straight Alliance Network, Carolyn Laub, stated in a press release that, "We hope the study will serve as a wake up call for those whose job it is to protect youth." Added Laub, "These alarming statistics underscore the need for alternatives to punitive school disciplinary practices as well as the need for school, police, and court officials to receive comprehensive training about the serious consequences of targeting LGBT youth, whether the perpetrators are student bullies or the adults themselves."