Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Monica Das

Abstract

Anti-Transgender hate crimes have been on the rise in recent years, but the reasons for this are unclear. The main question this thesis works to answer is: How do state-by-state variations in hate speech, as measured by Google searches for derogatory transgender terminology, relate to hate crimes in that state, as measured by reported hate-motivated murders of transgender people, in the United States from 2008-2017? This analysis utilizes data of reported hate crimes against transgender people, taking into account the identity of that individual, along with the economic, social, and political climate of the state in the year the victim died. Overall, the findings are inconclusive and point to a need for further research. However, discrimination against the transgender community is still well-documented and, combined with this analysis, leads to the need to research more. Moving forward, data collection on transgender people needs to become more robust to help with further analyses and to further reinforce the need for legal protection of transgender people. Finally, this thesis provides potential areas of further research as well as policy recommendations to protect the transgender community in the United States.

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