Abstract
This study was focused on the youth’s perceptions in Trinidad and Tobago, a developing Caribbean nation. It describes their personal experiences with and perceptions of police misbehavior or excessive use of force on juveniles and young adults held in the two reformatory institutions, as well as in the country’s only juvenile facility. The main objective of the present empirical research was to explore the diachronic conceptual relationship between violence and the levels of police legitimacy as perceived or experienced by the youth from 13 to 23 years old. Short questionnaires were used to capture the youth’s opinions on institutional violence, a distinct and long-lasting phenomenon in the region. Multivariate analyses of the quantitative data also examined the role of trust as an influencing factor for police legitimacy (and legitimation), being previously evaluated in terms of efficiency and equality. Although most of the research participants had a bad impression about the police, overall, whether the police operations were efficient or their procedures fair had no impact or influence on the particular sample’s levels of trust and general perceptions of the TTPS. Finally, recommendations on changes in the police’s administrative procedures were made along with a shift in organizational culture, and the promotion of community policing.
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Notes
Currently, the duration of the basic training program of the Police Academy in Trinidad and Tobago is short (6 months) compared to its European counterparts, which spans over 3 to 4 years.
See below for relevant information regarding the TT Police Complaints Authority.
It was practically impossible to calculate with accuracy the number of complaints sent to the PCA according to age because in the 2011 and 2012 reports, the corresponding age group was divided into two categories: “0–20 years” and “20–30 years,” then in the 2013 and 2014 reports, the age classification changed into three categories: “under 18 years,” “18–25 years,”and “25–30 years,” while in the 2015 report, the same division now had four categories: “under 16 years,” “16–20 years,” “20–25 years,” and “25–30 years.”
From those 2139 filed complaints, the 1279 were still under active investigation, the 254 were sent before the Court, and the 606 were completed (PCA 2015).
From 54 complaints in 2011 to 89 in 2012, followed by 95 complaints in 2013, dropping to 85 in 2014, and increasing again to 89 in 2015.
The Supplemental Police Act 15:02 of 1906, which was amended in 1993
Although both Homes and the YTC are obliged to transfer all juveniles to the adult prison on their 18th birthday for any remaining sentence, at the time of my visits, both institutions were hosting few young adults who were beyond that age. The reason was fairly legitimate: the YTC staff had decided to withhold all those juveniles who had served the majority of their sentence in St. Michael’s or in YTC deeming that if they were sent to the adult prison, all rehabilitative efforts made during their time in those institutions would have gone down the drain.
Although the vast majority of the young participants were Afro-Trinidadians [the ethnic group bearing disproportionately the burden of the recent escalation of violent crime in T&T (Townsend 2009)], ethnicity was deliberately omitted as a demographic variable based on a previous study indicating no significant differences in perceptions of procedural justice and police legitimacy among different ethnic groups (Nuño 2018).
Or “Unfair”/“Inefficient”/“Never” to “Fair”/“Efficient”/“Always”
A reliability coefficient of .70 or higher is considered “acceptable” in most social science research situations.
The “n” shows the total number of valid cases.
All percentages mentioned in the analysis are valid percentages (VP).
The number 13 reflects the minimum age of the respondents and not the minimum age at which a child can be sent to a reformatory school, which is 11 years old.
Only p values under .05 are considered to be statistically significant.
Trinidad & Tobago Police Service
This question was treated as “multiple response” with a total percent of cases: 233.3%.
Such as being injured or beaten up
In a way that is experienced in the imagination through the actions of another person
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Stamatakis, N. Perceptions of Incarcerated Youth About Police Violence and Legitimacy in Trinidad and Tobago. J Police Crim Psych 34, 314–329 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9309-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9309-6