Preface
| Author | Randy Seepersad/Dianne Williams |
| Profession | Criminologist in the Department of Behavioural Sciences at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago/Coordinator of the Unit for Social Problems Analysis and Policy Development (USPAP) |
| Pages | 11-18 |
This book offers an in-depth analysis of crime and security in
Trinidad and Tobago and has been speciically developed for students
of criminology and criminal justice and related disciplines, and for
practitioners and policymakers in the areas of crime control, prevention
and security. The areas focused upon have been chosen such that they
address how to understand and deal with crime in Trinidad and Tobago.
These include a focus on the criminal justice system with particular
attention to the nature of, and the problems in, the police service,
courts and prisons service. It looks at the nature and extent of criminal
victimization in Trinidad and Tobago, paying particular attention to data
from 1990 to 2014, which examined vulnerable groups in Trinidad and
Tobago, including women and juveniles, with a special emphasis on the
juvenile justice system, criminal gangs and interventions for dealing
with gang violence, risk factors which are relevant for understanding
crime, the responses of the population to insecurity, and the policy
environment in Trinidad and Tobago. In examining these areas, this
book provides several policy recommendations for dealing with crime
and insecurity.
Crime is one of the leading social problems facing Trinidad and
Tobago and is one of the most important threats to citizen security.
Concerns about crime and violence are expressed daily in the news
media and rank high among citizens’ concerns in public opinion polls. An
increase in crime and violence particularly after has intensiied
perceptions of insecurity among citizens. The result has been a decline
in the publics trust in the capacity of government and speciically law
enforcement agencies, to deal with this problem, intensifying their sense
of insecurity and weakening the country’s social fabric. For the period
2000–2010, the average annual murder rate in Trinidad and Tobago was
26 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to an average of 22.1
for the Caribbean, as a whole, and 5.4 for the US. The only Caribbean
countries with murder rates which exceeded Trinidad and Tobago’s for
this period were Jamaica, with an average rate of 51.7; Belize, with an
average rate of 35.8; and St Kitts/Nevis with an average rate of 29.2. In
the case of Belize and St Kitts/Nevis, the absolute number of murders
was small compared to that of Trinidad and Tobago. Belize recorded an
Preface
To continue reading
Request your trial