This chapter examines research focused on the work lives of queer criminal processing system professionals. Despite nearly four decades of study, the main focus of research has been on queer officers in policing, specifically lesbian and gay police officers’ experiences, with limited research about bisexual and transgender police officers and almost none about nonbinary police officers. Beyond policing, we know very little about queer professionals within other parts of the criminal processing systems, such as the courts or corrections. Furthermore, professionals in prosecution and defense, parole, and other ancillary branches of the system are also seriously understudied. With the limitations on the existing knowledge base, we argue that it would be erroneous to conclude that these employees’ full equity and inclusion have been achieved. Instead, the research demonstrates that while there have been some advancements, substantial (and often systemic) discrimination and harassment are still endured by these workers. They remain victims of inequity and exclusion at the hands of both work colleagues and the public. In addition to documenting these queer professionals’ experiences, we also discuss their collective efforts to improve internal and external equity for themselves and others.

The context of criminal processing systems

While we have radically reformed aspects of criminal processing systems globally –such as decriminalizing drugs in Portugal and more humanistic approaches adopted in Finnish prisons – other systems continue to compound injustice. Militarized police systems, for instance, continue to serve as the gateway to criminal processing systems worldwide. In much of the world, this translates into disproportionate policing negatively affecting minority populations. The militarized police systems foster a masculine, heterosexist orthodoxy among officers. Within this masculine backdrop, being queer and being a police officer represented dual – often conflicting – identities. Early research focused on how officers reconciled a ‘deviant’ identity with their law enforcement role as regulators of deviance (Leinen, 1993; Burke, 1993). Although evidence suggests the policing ‘cult of masculinity’ is buckling (Silvestri, 2017), the adverse effects of hegemonic masculinity have been shown to impact the lives of all police officers on the force, not just female officers (Cordner & Cordner, 2011).