Crime

Sex is the single most important predictor of the risk of criminal behaviour. Men account for 75 percent of all convictions each year, 93 percent of all murder convictions and more than 98 percent of all convictions for sex crimes, according to Ministry of Justice figures.

When men identify as women this does not change their propensity to crime and violence. One study from Sweden found that “transwomen” (natal males) were almost twice as likely as other males to commit violent crimes (though this difference is not statistically significant) and twenty times more likely than females. Another recent study, based on cases collected by Trans Crime UK and Remembering our dead, found that trans-identifying men followed the male rather than female pattern of homicide.

The police, courts, prison and probation services and those involved in the protection of children and vulnerable people often need to be clear about what sex people are both for the purposes of preventing and investigating crime, and for respecting people’s rights and keeping them safe.

For example:

• If you are searched by the police (involving removal of more than a jacket and shoes), this must be done by an officer of the same sex (England and Wales / Scotland).
• If you are a victim of sexual violence or domestic abuse, you have the right to request that the police officer conducting the interview is of the sex of your choice. (England and Wales /
  Scotland)
• If you are giving legal evidence, you must be allowed to refer to a person in terms of your experience and perception. You cannot be required to use preferred pronouns in court. (This was recently changed in the Equal Treatment Bench Book and Scottish Equal Treatment Bench Book.)

In prisons, men and women should be detained in separate institutions as far as possible, according to both national and international rules. A recent legal opinion produced for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies following the judgment in For Women Scotland concludes that the only lawful basis on which prisons can be operated is through complete segregation of the sexes, based on biological sex. That is because separate-sex prisons are necessary to meet the rights and needs of female prisoners.

What’s the problem?

Organisations within the criminal justice system have adopted policies of treating suspects, victims, defendants in criminal trials, and convicted offenders on the basis of their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex. A 2022 report by Policy Exchange found that: 

“Self-declaration of ‘gender identity’ has been adopted as policy by all of the key criminal justice institutions, despite the fact that this is not aligned with the law.” 

In England and Wales the policy since 2023 has been that men who identify as women who are sentenced to custody in the future “will not be held in the general women’s estate if they retain male genitalia or have been convicted of a violent or sexual offence – unless in the most exceptional cases.” 

However, biologically male prisoners who identify as transgender women remain housed in HMP Downview, a women’s prison in Surrey, in E wing, a segregated unit said to be “not part of the general women’s estate” although they are allowed to associate with women. 

Similarly, transgender males who do not have sexual or violent convictions can be referred to “approved premises” (community-based residential facilities for those who have offended) for women if they have surgery and a GRC, and sometimes without. There are 104 of these premises in England and Wales: most are for men only, with eight being women only. Male offenders may be referred to non-residential women’s centres based on even wider criteria.

In Scotland, male prisoners who identify as transgender can be placed in female prisons unless they have been convicted of or are on remand for a crime of violence, or a sexual crime against a female victim. For Women Scotland has challenged the lawfulness of this. There was a hearing in February 2026 and judgment is awaited.

Allowing men to be recorded as women, and in some cases held in women’s prisons and probation hostels, as well as charities and services for women in the criminal justice system, undermines women’s safety, dignity and privacy.

Allowing men to identify as women online, and in spaces where women are vulnerable, exposes women to risk. Voyeurism (peeking) and exposure (flashing) are crimes that are commonly committed by men against women and girls.

Questions about sexual consent relate to a person’s sex. If a person lies or misleads another about what sex they are, and they engage in a sexual act on the basis of this deceit, they may be found guilty of a crime (see Where sex matters: Relationships).

Allowing male criminals to be recorded as their claimed “gender identity” rather than their sex can have a significant effect on crime statistics. The bias starts with crime reporting: describing trans-identifying men as women in news reports by the BBC and other news media is one example of this.