“We Are Like Prey”

• Author: Ericka Briana Adams
• Published date: 01 October 2012
• Date: 01 October 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/2153368712452434
• Subject Matter: Articles

‘‘We Are Like Prey’’: How

People Negotiate a

Violent Community in

Trinidad and Tobago

Ericka Briana Adams

1

Abstract

Urban communities in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobagohave transformed into war

zones; citizens report that crime and violence are the primary problems incapacitating

their communities . Research has focused on the heightened levels of national homicide

rates, gang violence, and juveniledelinquency. However, oftenignored is how violence is

negotiated and compromises the lives of citizens in Trinidad and Tobago. Using a

grounded theory approach and 30 semistructured interviews with community

members, this article investigates citizens’ responses to violence in an underprivileged

predominantly Black community in Northwest Trinidad. Results suggest that the social

and environmental context of the neighborhood fosters residents’ refusal to report

witnessed violence, women’s implementation of self-imposed ecological imprisonment,

and residents’use of strategies (e.g., buildingwalls) to create distance betweenthem and

other community members. Policy implications involve enhancing citizens’ sense of

security and revitalizing bonds between community members.

Keywords

street crime, crime, race, class, and gender articulation, criminological theories, citizen

satisfaction, race and policing, Caribbean, race/ethnicity, collective efficacy,

criminological theories

Introduction

Urban communities in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago have transformed into

war zones (Kochel, 2009; Kowlessar, 2009); citizens report that crime and violence

1

Department of Justice Studies, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Ericka Briana Adams, Department of Justice Studies, San Jose State University, One Washington Square, San

Jose, CA 95192, USA

Email: ericka.adams@sjsu.edu

Race and Justice

2(4) 274-303

ªThe Author(s) 2012

Reprints and permission:

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368712452434

http://raj.sagepub.com

are recurring problems affecting their communities (Kochel, 2009; Mastrofski &

Lum, 2008; McCree, 1998). Violent crimes predominate in poor communities and

within recent years wealthy citizens (e.g., business owners) have been exposed to an

increased risk of kidnapping (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Latin

America and the Caribbean Region of the World Bank, 2007). In 2008, the murder rate

was 42 per 100,000 (Nicholas, 2009) making Trinidad and Tobago one of the most

dangerous nations in the Caribbean (Mastrofski & Lum, 2008; Townsend, 2009) and

one of the murder capitals of the world (St. Bernard, 2009). Furthermore, hot spots,

controlled by street gangs, are engulfed with robberies, drug trafficking, shootings,

and the production of guns (Maguire, Willis, Snipes, & Gantley, 2008; McCree,

1998). Gendered violence abounds, with one in four women being vulnerable to

domestic violence (Trinidad and Tobago Coalition Against Domestic Violence,

2005). Past research has focused on the elevated national homicide rates and gang

violence but has greatly overlooked how people in high-crime communities cope with

street violence and negotiate the violent spaces that they frequent. The purpose of this

article, therefore, is to focus on people’s experiences with crime and violence in Tri-

nidad and Tobago, in the public domain, and how they negotiate the spaces in their

community.

Official data offer great insight into the trends of violence in Trinidad and Tobago,

but those records are silent regarding how people cope with such violence. For

example, little is known about how community residents experience violence in their

communities or how it affects the way that citizens negotiate their daily activities and

interactions. In addition, scholars have not examined gendered strategies to cope with

living in violent communities. These omissions are important because negative

psychological impact (e.g., impaired emotional and intellectual growth) is associated

with residing in dangerous neighborhoods (Dubrow & Garbarino, 1989; Goleman,

1986; Hale, 1996; Liska, Lawrence, & Sanchirico, 1982). As an international trend,

violent incidents fragment the social fabric of neighborhoods, compound residents

nervousness and fear, shatter the possibility of robust social networks and informal

social controls, and transform communities into drug and gang turfs to be avoided

(Hale, 1996; Pryce, 1975).

This article intends to make three contributions to the literature. First, this

study explores an often-neglected area of Caribbean Criminology in the case of

Trinidad and Tobago, which is how citizens negotiate the violence they are

exposed to in their communities. Second, most of criminological research has

focused on gender differences in the United States—the fact that those gender

responses to violence may not apply to other countries is often ignored. This arti-

cle expands our understanding of gendered responses to violence by examining

theexperiencesofwomenandmeninapreviously unexamined domain (i.e.,

Trinidad and Tobago). Third, studies conducted in Trinidad and Tobago docu-

ment citizens’ fear of crime (Birju, 1998; Boufoy-Bastick, 2009; Chadee, 2002;

Chadee & Ditton, 1999; Kochel, 2009; Lane & Chadee, 2008), but they do not

document the citizens’ coping strategies to reduce their fear or negotiate the vio-

lence experienced in their communities.

Adams 275