Reported cases of trans people assaulting women in bathrooms
Executive summary
Reporting and peer-reviewed studies consistently find no evidence that allowing transgender people to use restrooms matching their gender identity increases assaults on cisgender women, and multiple large surveys instead document that transgender people themselves face harassment and physical or sexual assault in bathrooms; however, the available sources do not represent an exhaustive criminal-incident database and cannot prove the absolute nonexistence of any isolated criminal case [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What the empirical research shows about perpetrators and bathroom safety
Multiple academic and policy studies have searched for links between trans-inclusive restroom access and increased crime and have found none; analyses comparing localities with and without nondiscrimination ordinances (Massachusetts) found no increase in reported assaults or privacy violations after protections were enacted [2], and commentators summarizing law-enforcement responses across states report no verifiable pattern of trans people harassing cisgender people in public restrooms [3].
2. Where the data point instead: transgender people as victims in restrooms
Large surveys repeatedly record that transgender people are disproportionately targets of harassment and violence in gendered spaces: the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found roughly 12% of respondents reported verbal harassment, physical attack, or sexual assault in a restroom in the past year [1], national survey series and advocacy organizations report high rates of verbal harassment (around two-thirds) and nontrivial rates of physical assault in restrooms [5] [6], and peer-reviewed youth research shows transgender and nonbinary teens face elevated sexual-assault prevalence overall and especially when denied access to facilities matching their gender identity [7] [8] [9].
3. School studies — bathroom restrictions and increased risk for trans youth
School-based research finds an association between policies that force transgender students to use sex-assigned-at-birth facilities and higher rates of sexual assault against those students: analyses of nearly 3,700 teens showed about 36% of transgender or gender-nonbinary students with restricted bathroom/locker-room access reported sexual assault in the prior 12 months, and forced-restriction environments correlated with 1.3–2.5-fold increased risk in some subgroups [8] [10] [9].
4. The absence of a catalogue is not the same as absolute proof — limits of the available reporting
The sources compiled are empirical studies, major surveys, policy-research reports and advocacy summaries that consistently find no population-level surge in restroom assaults attributable to trans-inclusive policies and document high victimization of transgender people in those spaces, but they do not constitute a complete criminal-case registry for every jurisdiction or year; therefore they support the conclusion that claims about widespread or systematic crimes by trans people in bathrooms are unsubstantiated by the best available research, while not allowing the categorical denial that a rare individual offense could ever have occurred [2] [3] [1].
5. Political narratives, implicit agendas, and alternative viewpoints
The “bathroom predator” narrative has been used to justify restrictive laws and has clear political effects: advocates and some commentators frame inclusive policies as risk-free based on studies and law-enforcement statements [2] [3], while opponents use hypothetical predator scenarios to argue for limits; analysts warn that those narratives can stigmatize a vulnerable population and that many anti-trans bills leverage fear rather than empirical evidence [11] [10]. Sources such as GLAAD and the Williams Institute explicitly argue that bathroom bans increase risk to transgender people and do not improve safety for others [11] [6], whereas public concern about privacy and safety persists in some quarters despite the research [12].
6. Bottom line for public understanding and policy
The weight of peer-reviewed studies, government and advocacy analyses, and law-enforcement reviews in the collected reporting shows no demonstrable pattern of transgender people assaulting women in bathrooms at a scale that would validate the “predator” argument used to restrict restroom access, while documenting that transgender people are frequently harassed or attacked in these spaces and that restrictive policies can exacerbate their risk; however, the assembled sources cannot claim to have inventoried every individual criminal report nationwide, so public-safety claims should be judged against empirical research rather than isolated anecdotes [1] [7] [2] [3].