Citation

Katz CM, Maguire ER, Choate D. Int. Crim. Justice Rev. 2011; 21(3): 243-262.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Georgia State University, College of Health and Human Sciences, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1057567711417179

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study compares the scope and nature of the gang problem in two communities: one in the United States and one in Trinidad and Tobago, a small-island developing state in the eastern Caribbean that has experienced a serious outbreak of violence over the past decade. Data drawn from surveys of adult arrestees reveal that among respondents, 3.2% of those in the U.S. sample and 5.1% of those in the Trinidad sample reported being a member of a gang. While there were a number of similarities between the two samples, significant differences were found between gang members in both countries. Most notably, gang members in Trinidad reported substantially more violence than gang members in the United States.