ABSTRACT
Introduction Many people are surprised to learn that homicides within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) population are dissimilar to other kinds of homicides.* Incidents occurring within this group present unusual challenges, such as recognition and investigation of cases, police-community cooperation which historically have been strained, and for creating and implementing creative, yet politically tolerable intervention and prevention strategies and techniques (Drake, 2004a, 2014). LGBT persons comprise a population demographic and include both LGBT victims and LGBT offenders (Drake, 2003). This group is unique for a number of differing characteristics, including cognitive motivations, incident behavioral characteristics, investigative interactions, and prosecutorial challenges. Perhaps the most important distinction is that these homicides, in contrast to the theoretical literature, are among the most frequent to be cleared by arrest when tested empirically (van Gemert, 1994; Riemann, 2004). Convictions, however, may be challenging as there exists a substantial history of varied legal defenses offered for these killings, as well as jurists who are biased against any nonheterosexual sexual orientation (Comstock, 1991; Brower, 2002; Young, 2011).
