Anti-Gang Act of 2011

Indicates that:

 “gang” means a combination of two or more persons, whether formally or informally

organized, that, through its membership or through an agent, engages in any gang-related
activity; “gang leader” means a person who knowingly initiates, organizes, plans,
finances, directs, manages or supervises any gang-related activity;

 “gang member” means a person who belongs to a gang, or a person who knowingly acts
in the capacity of an agent for or an accessory to, or voluntarily associates himself with
any gang-related activity, whether in a preparatory, executory or concealment phase of
any such activity, or a person who knowingly performs, aids, or abets any such activity;

 “gang-related activity” means any criminal activity, enterprise, pursuit or undertaking in

relation to any of the offences listed in the First Schedule acquiesced in, or consented or
agreed to, or directed, ordered, authorized, requested or ratified by any gang member,
including a gang leader;

 5. (1) It is hereby declared that gangs are unlawful and any person—

(a) who is a member of a gang; or

(b) who, in order to gain an unlawful benefit, professes to be a gang member when in fact he is
not,

whether by telling anyone that he is a gang member or otherwise suggesting to anyone that he is
a gang member,

commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for ten years and on
any subsequent conviction on indictment to imprisonment for twenty years.

(2) A person who is a gang leader commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment
to imprisonment for twenty-five years.

(3) A person who is a police officer, prison officer, member of the Defence Force,

constable appointed under the Supplemental Police Act or the Special Reserve Police Act,

member of a protective service agency or involved in law enforcement,

and is a gang member, commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to

imprisonment for twenty-five years.

4) A gang member who unlawfully and maliciously—

(a) by any means whatsoever, wounds or causes grievous bodily harm to; or

(b) shoots at with intent to do some grievous bodily harm, to a police officer, prison officer,
member of the Defence Force, constable appointed under the Supplemental Police Act or the
Special Reserve Police Act, member of a protective service agency or a person involved in law
enforcement,

commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for thirty years.

 6. A person who, by any means,

 coerces, encourages, entices, aids or abets another person to be a gang member

 commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for

twenty-five years.

 7. A person who prevents or attempts to prevent a gang member from leaving the
membership of a gang,

 whether by coercion or otherwise, commits an offence and is liable on conviction on

indictment to imprisonment for twenty-five years.

 12.(1) A police officer may arrest without a warrant a person whom he has reasonable
cause to believe to be a gang member

 or whom he has reasonable cause to believe has committed an offence under this Act.

 (2) A police officer may, with a warrant issued by a Magistrate so enabling him to do,

 enter any dwelling house and search the same if he has reasonable cause to believe that a
gang member may be found in that dwelling house.

 (3) A police officer may enter without a warrant and search any place or premises

 not used as a dwelling house if he has reasonable cause to believe that a gang member
may be found in such place or premises.
 13.(1)
 Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a police officer may,
 without a warrant, detain for a period not exceeding seventy-two hours a person whom
he reasonably suspects of having committed an offence under this Act without charging
him for the offence.
Gangs - McCree 1998

 The World Health Organization (WHO) Caribbean Adolescent Health Survey conducted
1998 found that gang violence was on the increase in the Caribbean.

 That one out of every ten adolescents belonged to a gang with 10 per cent reporting past
gang membership The Independent , July 16, 1998)

 In August 1998 ‘a teenage gang,’ ranging in ages from 13 to 16, stabbed and killed a 19
year old youth in north-west Port of Spain over a bottle of ink used for making
tattoos )Trinidad Guardian, August 5, 1999; Trinidad Express, August 5, 1998)

 The name of the gang was given as the “The Gambinos.”

 While the circumstances surrounding his death are still not clear to the public, the
incident served to bring into prominence the whole question of gangs and gang violence
in the country.

 It is interesting to note that in 1994, some four years before this incident, the Institute of
Social and Economic Research(ISER) at the University of the West Indies (St Augustine
Campus)

 carried out a comprehensive study of the community of Laventille (a generally poor

community on the outskirts of the capital city, Port of Spain) in order to examine some of
the social and economic problems which beset this urban area

 McCree 1998 embarked on ascertaining whether gangs existed in the community, their
numbers and community knowledge of them and their activities.

 The members of a gang possessed certain character traits which were summed up in the
expression “defiant individualism” that has six attributes,

 competitiveness, mistrust or wariness of others, self-reliance, social isolation, the survival

instinct, and a Social Darwinist outlook (this meant that the gang saw cheating and
stealing as the natural order of things for it existed even with the well-to-do and
supposedly respectable in societies) (Jankowski 1991)

 Four main types of gangs: soft, semi-hardcore, posh and hardcore (McCree 1998)

  Soft gangs:

 teenage youths involved in such activities as stealing fruits and the like. They are not
violent are without weapons.

 Semi-hardcore gangs:
 youth and adults engaging in home invasion and minor personal larceny. They have
weapons that they may use them to come even murder

  The posh gang:

 Middle and upper class and professional elites dealing in white collar and illegal drugs.
They are mostly legally employed and appear to be respectable in society. Weapons are
not part of their tools of trade. They are not normally associated with murders.

 The hardcore gang:

 engaged in conduct semi-hardcore and posh types crimes, with institutional robberies-
banks and jewelry shops.

 Drug trade tactics may be rape-murders, mafia style drive-by shooting, dismembering of
limbs, kidnappings, and contract killings.

 This gang type can be categorized by violence exacted on enemies or victims.

 Members are usually from the working class and those in the lower income communities
and the unemployed

 Then examples of these gangs:

 The posh gang- fraud at Licensing Office (Trinidad Guardian, September 27, 1998).

 The hardcore gang- the escape of convicted drug dealer Deochand Ramdhanie (Trinidad
Express, September 2, 1998)

 Individuals may become gang members for: material gains, financial security( a source of
money in ties of emergency),

 recreation, protection (physically and from the law), to avoid the low paying jobs and low
status of their parents,

 and as a form of commitment to the community, because of its traditional association

with gangs and gangs activity (Jankowski 1991)

 The need for money was prominent among those unable to start because of their age-
teens

 The increase or maintain their numbers, gangs also actively recruit individuals through a
combination of tactics that may involve:

 Force
 intimidation,

 and enticement by indicating some of the worldly pleasures of gangs membership

(namely, wine, women and song).

 The vast majority of Laventille residents 83.8 per cent seem to have no knowledge of
gangs in the community compared with 14.3 per cent who did.

 There was an 82.7 per cent of males and 84.6 per cent of females had no knowledge of
these gangs with 16.2 per cent and 12.8 per cent had knowledge.

 The youths 15-24 had 19.2 per cent of them and the 25-49 age group having a 12.5 per
cent knowing about Laventille gangs. Eleven per cent of those 50 and over had
knowledge of gangs in the area

 In a shorter age band of 20-24 grouping 21.2 per cent knew about gangs

 It was found that 20.3 females 18 per cent males in Laventilles knew about gangs in the
area

 Gangs were involved in 4 main activities: 37% Robbery/ mugging; 10% drug trafficking
with 18% saying it was the 4th main problem in the community; 8% assault; 7% making
guns.

 A 41.3 per cent saw crime as the 2nd main problem with 68.5 per cent feeling
unemployment was the main problem

 The most power was controlled by the drug lords 34 per cent felt; 26 per cent the PNM
with 22 per cent by the politicians

 World Bank Report 1996 indicated that the nature of gangs and gangs activities found in
Laventille were very similar to urban centers across the Caribbean

 In was observed that there was a parallel increase in violent animated games by the
youths by video, computer, nintendo and other portable games.

 Video arcades at malls and smaller outlets in many areas

 Mc Cree 1998 argued that the increase of computer-driven animated games of violence
and terror can be seen as having several major social consequences.

 Firstly, they have increase the exposure of youths generally, and male youths in
particular, to violence and on a more continuous basis.
  Secondly, from a very early age, those who play these games are being socialized into
viewing violence as (i) a main means of resolving conflict and differences and (ii)
entertainment.

 Thirdly, the new games are inadvertently serving to add to the all pervasive culture of
violence which already exists in the society and this does not augur well for our future
well being

 Much of the existing intervention strategies to deal with curbing violence and crime have
focused particularly on youth,

 and have included such programmes as youth training and Apprenticeship Programme
(YTTEP),

 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC),

 more recently the introduction of Community Policing and the formation of Police Youth
Groups and

 the organization of various sporting competition under the aegis of the Ministry of Youth
and Sport Affairs

 Street Gangs and Violence in Trinidad and Tobago

Randy Seepersad1
It was found that there are approximately 95 gangs in Trinidad and Tobago and
approximately 1269 gang members, with the majority of gangs concentrated in Port of
Spain, and the Western and Northern Police Divisions. Approximately 83% of gang
members are of African descent, 13% of East Indian descent and 4% of other ethnic
backgrounds. All of the gangs in Trinidad and Tobago are male dominated, while about
87% are comprised of adults. Analyses further indicate that that gang members engage in
a disproportionate number of violent crimes and that the spatial location of gangs is
closely related to the spatial location of violent crimes, particularly murder, woundings
and shootings, robbery, narcotic offences and burglary.

All of the gangs in Trinidad and Tobago are male dominated, while about 87% are comprised of
adults. Two thirds of gangs have between 6 to 50 members while 95% of gangs are comprised
of citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. The majority of gangs in Trinidad and Tobago (86%) have a
group name, while 61% refer to themselves as a gang, 26% as a crew, and 4.2% as a clip or unit.
A large proportion (88%) claim turf while 75% defend their turf. The vast majority (85%) do not

1
Randy Seepersad, Ph.D., is a criminologist in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies,
Trinidad and Tobago. The author may be contacted at randy.seepersad@sta.uwi.edu
have special symbols or identifying clothing, and almost without exception illegal activity is
accepted by all gang members. Twenty six percent of gangs in Trinidad and Tobago locate their
date of origin prior to 2000, while the remainder originated after 2000. Gangs in Trinidad and
Tobago are typically smaller than gangs in Latin America and the US, and typically do not have
linkages to gangs in other parts of the region or to gangs in other countries. This contrasts to
some of the larger gangs in Latin America which have connections to other gangs within their
region and in the US (Wells, Katz and Kim, 2010; Katz and Choate, 2010).

According to Katz and Choate (2010), the five police station districts 2 with the most gangs are, in
order of priority, Besson Street, San Juan, Sangre Grande, St. Joseph and Belmont. The five
police station districts with the highest number of gang members in order of priority are, Besson
Street, Belmont, San Juan, Caranage and Sangre Grande.

Analyses of the data indicated above show that the spatial distribution of crime in Trinidad and
Tobago bears a striking similarity to the spatial distribution of gangs. When gang related
murders for the period 2001 to 2010 are examined, the largest proportion occurs in the Port of
Spain division (42.6%) followed by the North Eastern (18.8%), Western (17.8%) and Northern
(15.9%) divisions.

When gang related murders are restricted to the period 2009 to 2010, the spatial distribution of
such murders also closely resembles the spatial distribution of gangs (see Figure 12). For this
period, 50.6% of all gang related murders took place in Port of Spain, also the city with the
largest proportion of gangs. The Western and Northern Police Divisions also had a
disproportionately large number of gang related murders and a correspondingly large number of
gangs.

A survey of experts on gangs in Trinidad and Tobago, conducted by Katz and Choate (2010).
These experts indicate that two-thirds of the gangs in Trinidad and Tobago are involved in fights
with rival gangs, while gang members frequently use alcohol and illegal drugs, and engage in the
sale of such drugs. Experts also emphasized that gangs were heavily involved in organized
fraud, robbery and other forms of armed violence.

Additional evidence that gangs are responsible for a disproportionate number of violent crimes
derives from homicide data from CAPA. Fully one third of all murders for the period 2001 to
2009 are attributed to gangs. Even more troubling is the finding that the proportion of murders
being committed by gang members is increasing over time.

Consequences of the presence of gangs in Trinidad and Tobago

2
Police station districts refer to the area of jurisdiction of each Police Station.
The presence of gangs and gang violence have a number of negative consequences in Trinidad
and Tobago. Homicide as well as other acts of violence contribute to a reduction in the
workforce and to lowered productivity, and are also associated with an increased burden on the
health care system since victims must seek medical attention. The increased number of gangs as
well as the associated increase in crime also results in a diversion of the country’s resources from
development initiatives toward fighting crime. National Security expenditure consumes a large
proportion of the total annual budget. This reduces the availability of resources for expenditure
in other sectors including health care, the provision of social services, education, infrastructure
development, and economic development initiatives. Indeed ECLAC (2008) has found that the
percentage of GDP spent on national security in Trinidad and Tobago has increased steadily
while welfare expenditure has remained relatively constant. The prevalence of gangs in some
areas is also related to a decrease in investment in those areas and in reduced opportunities for
employment. In neighbourhoods such as Laventille, for example, there are no businesses except
small shops owned and operated by local residents. An added consequence of gang presence in
such neighbourhoods is the devaluation of property and land value.

Gang presence encourages the relocation of law abiding citizens as well as law enforcement
personnel who reside in these areas (Montoute, 2010). This results in a concentration of persons
who are either more accepting of gangs or a criminal lifestyle, as well as persons who have no
other alternative but to live in such neighbourhoods. This implies that the social controls which
may derive from law abiding persons is continuously weakened in such neighbourhoods.
Informal social controls have been consistently found to be an important buffer in preventing
criminal offending (Hirschi, 2002).

Interestingly enough, research in Trinidad and Tobago has indicated that gangs may even
provide a law enforcement function for communities (Katz, 2009). Katz, in examining data
gathered from residents in the community of Gonzales found that residents believed that gangs
reduced crime levels in their community. Katz discovered that gangs in Gonzales had instituted
a community court which met weekly and in which community matters, including the
disciplining of young males for transgressions against the community, were attended to. Indeed
one resident of Gonzales went as far as saying that “Gangs are the first ones to respond to crime,
the police are incompetent, they take too long and never finish the work. If you go to the gang
leader you know they will take care of you” (Katz, 2009: p. 26).

If you live in a community where there is gang cohesion you are more safe because they [protect
you.]...Gangs provide safety, create jobs,... give people food, give mothers milk for their
baby’s.”

Katz
Reasons for joining a gang in Trinidad and Tobago

Reason for joining gang (%)*

Protection/safety - 29.4
Friendship - 42.0
Parent(s) in a gang - 2.1
Sibling(s) in a gang - 3.8
Make money - 8.0
Other - 14.7

Self reported delinquency among gang and non gang school aged youth Jamaica
• Gang members were involved in:
7 times the amount of violence

2 to 7 times the amount of property crime

4 times the amount of marijuana use

Trinidad & Tobago, gang members were involved in:

6.5 times the amount of violence

4.6 times the amount of property crime
11 times the amount of drug sales
7 times the amount of marijuana use