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Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago

Melissa Mendez Orcid Logo

Swansea University Author: Melissa Mendez Orcid Logo

Abstract

There is an ongoing moral panic about ‘the’ juvenile delinquent in Trinidad and Tobago. The media present, with increasing regularity, stories about problematic youth—particularly young men—giving the impression that youth crime is spiralling out of control, when official statistical evidence sugges...

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Published: Cardiff 2019
Online Access: http://orca.cf.ac.uk/118782/
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa56760
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first_indexed 2021-04-28T17:18:19Z
last_indexed 2021-05-22T03:24:13Z
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spelling 2021-05-21T16:01:32.0949073 v2 56760 2021-04-28 Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago 8a1e94c07e3fb7d507457760f2a716f1 0000-0002-1184-9101 Melissa Mendez Melissa Mendez true false 2021-04-28 CSSP There is an ongoing moral panic about ‘the’ juvenile delinquent in Trinidad and Tobago. The media present, with increasing regularity, stories about problematic youth—particularly young men—giving the impression that youth crime is spiralling out of control, when official statistical evidence suggests otherwise. Research into youth offending in Trinidad and Tobago has been mainly quantitative, considering the risks and protective factors associated with delinquency and desistance. The extant research also analyses and discusses the data uncovered within the framework of Western criminological theories. Little attempt is made to use, adapt, or develop theory in the Caribbean or Trinbagonian context in which the data was produced. The present study addresses the dearth of qualitative data on young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago by presenting the narratives of a census population of convicted juvenile offenders housed at the Youth Training Centre in Trinidad. These narratives are analysed and interpreted within the socio-economic, cultural and historical context in which these accounts were produced, taking up a 40-year-old call for the development of a ‘Caribbean Criminology’. The main purpose of this project was to gain an understanding of the subjective lived experiences of incarcerated young men in Trinidad and Tobago; how they feel, think, act and make sense of the world. I discuss the implications of the narratives presented with regard to broader sociological-criminological questions about state legitimacy and procedural justice and within the context of the families and communities from which my participants come. My findings offer insight into stigmatised communities and suggest the need for a reconceptualisation of poverty as a structural deficit rather than an individual failing, and a need for state officials to recognise the social and cultural injustice that have blocked opportunities for a number of citizens. Thesis Cardiff 12 2 2019 2019-02-12 http://orca.cf.ac.uk/118782/ This thesis is available at http://orca.cf.ac.uk/118782/ COLLEGE NANME Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy COLLEGE CODE CSSP Swansea University 2021-05-21T16:01:32.0949073 2021-04-28T18:16:22.5998882 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Melissa Mendez 0000-0002-1184-9101 1
title Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago
spellingShingle Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago
Melissa Mendez
title_short Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago
title_full Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago
title_fullStr Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago
title_full_unstemmed Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago
title_sort Youthmen with big man mentality: An exploration and analysis of the narratives of young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago
author_id_str_mv 8a1e94c07e3fb7d507457760f2a716f1
author_id_fullname_str_mv 8a1e94c07e3fb7d507457760f2a716f1_***_Melissa Mendez
author Melissa Mendez
author2 Melissa Mendez
format Staff Thesis
publishDate 2019
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
url http://orca.cf.ac.uk/118782/
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description There is an ongoing moral panic about ‘the’ juvenile delinquent in Trinidad and Tobago. The media present, with increasing regularity, stories about problematic youth—particularly young men—giving the impression that youth crime is spiralling out of control, when official statistical evidence suggests otherwise. Research into youth offending in Trinidad and Tobago has been mainly quantitative, considering the risks and protective factors associated with delinquency and desistance. The extant research also analyses and discusses the data uncovered within the framework of Western criminological theories. Little attempt is made to use, adapt, or develop theory in the Caribbean or Trinbagonian context in which the data was produced. The present study addresses the dearth of qualitative data on young offenders in Trinidad and Tobago by presenting the narratives of a census population of convicted juvenile offenders housed at the Youth Training Centre in Trinidad. These narratives are analysed and interpreted within the socio-economic, cultural and historical context in which these accounts were produced, taking up a 40-year-old call for the development of a ‘Caribbean Criminology’. The main purpose of this project was to gain an understanding of the subjective lived experiences of incarcerated young men in Trinidad and Tobago; how they feel, think, act and make sense of the world. I discuss the implications of the narratives presented with regard to broader sociological-criminological questions about state legitimacy and procedural justice and within the context of the families and communities from which my participants come. My findings offer insight into stigmatised communities and suggest the need for a reconceptualisation of poverty as a structural deficit rather than an individual failing, and a need for state officials to recognise the social and cultural injustice that have blocked opportunities for a number of citizens.
published_date 2019-02-12T04:11:58Z
_version_ 1763753819535048704
score 11.02893

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