Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Sociology - Law and Delinquency, grade: A+, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (Behavioural Sciences-Criminology Unit), course: Youth, Violence and Delinquency, language: English, abstract: This paper seeks to highlight juvenile delinquency in Trinidad and Tobago particularly within the school system which has become at the centre of attention recently. It explores some of the theories that can be used to explain delinquency in the school system. The author places much attention on the programmes that can be used to alleviate if not eliminate juvenile delinquency in schools throughout Trinidad and Tobago. The challenges and recommendations of these programmes were also highlighted in order to maximize its success.

This reader presents fresh insights on the rapidly expanding and changing crime-related problems in the Caribbean as well as provides information on new dimensions of crime and criminology that are occurring with increasing regularity. A path-breaking and comprehensive work, Crime Delinquency and Justice: A Caribbean Reader has come at a time when all societies in the Caribbean region are grappling with crime in all its forms; and when the structure of the justice system on which all these societies are founded is being challenged to adjust to changes in society locally and internationally. The work addresses both theoretical and practical issues indicated by the broad range of areas covered including: Theorizing a Caribbean Criminology; Juvenile Delinquency and Public Policy; Domestic Violence and the Criminal Justice System; Community Policing, Police Styles and Use of Force; Corrections; Crime Statistics; the Jury System; Drug Trafficking; Terrorism, Social Upheaval and Political Violence and Human Trafficking. Much of the contributions are research and data-driven and overall have policy development as their focus. This makes the volume suitable for courses in criminology and criminal justice at both the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as for specialist courses in various aspects of policing and law enforcement.

The issues surrounding the academic under-performance of the government secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago, compared with the denominational assisted schools have been debated for many years. An equally persistent issue surrounds the placement in the secondary schools and the inequalities which many persons perceive to be inherent in the process. In this masterly study, Professor Ramesh Deosaran examines the nature and dimensions of inequality in opportunities for education, and their relationship to gender, race, family background and socio-economic status. He effectively demonstrates that unequal opportunity and unequal outcomes are embedded in the country's education system - a legacy from the colonial past that institutionalized a system of schools run by the government and those run by religious denominations but supported by the state. Deosaran points to the 1960 Concordat which enshrined the rights of these denominational assisted schools and argues the case for revisiting the status quo to debate whether to revise, scrap or enshrine the Concordat in the constitution. Deosaran argues that the structural inequity in the education system and its outcomes amount to discrimination against the most disadvantaged groups with serious debilitating implications for the country's social and economic progress and its status as a modern democracy. He calls for a removal of the masks of inequality and discrimination and appeals for sustained, carefully planned and data-driven reforms in Trinidad and Tobago's education system. The study is multi-disciplinary in nature drawing from various disciplines, including politics of education, the sociology of education, the economics of education and educational psychology, backed up by data from his own research and from a variety of reports dating back to the 1960s.

This compilation of works highlights the historical, economic, and human dynamics behind youth offending in the nations of the West Indies. Youth Crime and Violence in the Caribbean offers insights into the slow rate of system change yet leaves readers with an optimistic picture of possibilities. Recent events in Haiti and neighboring Venezuela demonstrate how quickly dynamics in the Caribbean area can shift if crime is not addressed and people increasingly disengage from systems in a manner that allows despots to rise to power. When this happens, the impacts are not localized.

In Beyond the Legacy of the Missionaries and East Indians, Jerome Teelucksingh offers a revisionist perspective of the role of the Presbyterian Church in Trinidad. He is particularly interested in social mobility as regards the Indo-Caribbean diaspora in the era following the First World War. He argues that the Presbyterian Church in the Caribbean was particularly interested in women’s rights. As such, he examines the dynamic between local expertise and Canadian missionary work in such social uplift processes.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2010 in the subject Sociology - Children and Youth, grade: A, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (-), language: English, abstract: The aims of the study is to understand the real life conditions and experiences of children together with the extent and forms of school violence in the Secondary Schools in Trinidad among whom the highest incidences of violence have been reported, and if possible to construct an adequate theory about the upsurge in crime in this youthful section of the population using the dynamics of race, gender, social class, limited opportunity for employment, poverty and family background. The objective of the research is to investigate the experiences of students in the Secondary School system in the high risk schools in Trinidad, and to enquire into their perceptions/experiences of the root causes, consequences and outcomes of youth engagement in violence. A further objective is to propose policies and recommendations to address the root problems of school violence and delinquency exposed by the research to reduce the levels of crime and violence in the high risk schools. In addition to recommend polices/ strategies to strengthening student protection, school staff, families and the community as a whole. The increase in criminal behavior among the Secondary School population in Trinidad and Tobago has been of national concern for some time. Reports of serious crime - murder, attack with a weapon, rape, larceny, kidnapping - allegedly committed by school students and reported in the press, have given rise to great concern and stimulated resultant explanations from lay persons and policy makers alike. The reasons for and the appropriate methods of dealing with this relatively new phenomenon in the Trinidad context, have abounded and are discussed in various public fora.