Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Recent evaluations of health communication campaigns recognize the interplay between interpersonal and mass-mediated communication (Yanovitzky & Rimal, 2006) as opposed to previous emphases on mass-mediated approaches (Freimuth, Massett, & Meltzer, 2006). However, the process of transforming a mass-mediated campaign into one linked to interpersonal communication is not well understood or documented. Against the backdrop of a traditional model of campaign development, this paper explores how post-campaign actions, based on survey findings from an evaluation of a mass-mediated HIV/AIDS campaign, have led to the evolutionary redefining and reformulation of a mass-mediated campaign into one with an interpersonal dimension. The evolution of the second cycle of this campaign suggests a rethinking of the traditional model of health communication campaign development.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Just as a proper medical diagnosis sets the stage for effective treatment, a proper diagnosis of crime problems is crucial for determining which crime prevention strategies are most appropriate. We illustrate the process we followed to diagnose the crime problem in Trinidad and Tobago, a small two-island Caribbean nation experiencing a serious epidemic of violent crime. Our experience in Trinidad and Tobago illustrates the complexity of diagnosing violent crime epidemics in the midst of widespread dissatisfaction with public officials and fear of crime among the population, media outrage over the crime problem, and intense pressure on both public officials and our team of criminologists to “do something” now. Our diagnosis involved an internal and an external component. The internal component focused on the criminal justice apparatus and its “network of capacity” for carrying out crime control reform. The external component focused on the criminogenic factors —drugs, guns, gangs, and other factors— that might have initiated the epidemic increase in violence. This presentation presents initial findings from the diagnosis, including some factors common across nations and other factors unique to Trinidad and Tobago.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Research on procedural justice demonstrates the importance of perceived legitimacy for compliance with the law and positive citizen-police relations. Using survey data from two communities in Trinidad and Tobago, this paper examines public perceptions of police legitimacy and citizens’ willingness to assist the police with criminal investigations. Results show that community residents express great cynicism about the police, and are often unwilling to help the police investigate crime. Multivariate analyses examine the sources of these views, with an emphasis on the role of procedural justice. The implications of the results are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Trinidad and Tobago is experiencing an epidemic of homicides. Despite the fact that civilian gun possession is illegal in this developing Caribbean nation, the use of guns is closely linked to the homicide epidemic. This paper seeks to examine the nature of illegal gun markets and gun carrying in a sample of school-aged youth in Trinidad. Data were obtained from approximately 3,000 youth in 2006 using a modified version of the Communities That Care Youth Survey. Respondents answered a variety of questions about their experiences with guns, including carrying behaviors, access to guns, storage practices, and peer and sibling gun behaviors. The paper compares the results derived from youth in Trinidad to results of similar surveys in other nations and it presents implications for addressing illegal gun carrying and disrupting illegal gun markets.

Publication Type: Panelist Abstract
Abstract: Indisputably, the brutality of the enslavement of Africans in the Transatlantic Slave Trade following the invasion of Europeans on the African continent, and the expansion of European empires circa 14th Century has, indeed, caused a people to be tattered, torn and stripped of their identity, culture, language, customs, traditions, and most importantly humanness. From the time of captivity, Africans no longer shared the rights of being human; instead they were regarded as chattels of the European traders before becoming the property of their slave masters, whom they came to meet in the New World, and were treated as such. This account is charted in The Middle Passage experience where African slaves were packed and transported to the American continent and the Caribbean islands under the most dehumanizing conditions in which tradition and life were thrown overboard.
Upon entry into the New World Africans were barred from practicing any of their local customs. Still, while Africans were deprived of their basic human rights all was not lost at sea. The arrival of Africans to Trinidad and Tobago brought with it a people, who were determined to carry on their traditions, which was not an easy task since the penalty, if caught, could result to death. Africans ability to preserve their culture in Trinidad and Tobago has been manifested in national festivals, music, dance, religious rituals and customs, such as Carnival, Calypso, Bongo, Shango, Orisha, Spiritual Baptist and its ceremonial wear, Limbo, Kalinda (stickfighting), tambu-bamboo (leading to the steel pan instrument), and certain foods and drinks like coo-coo, mauby, chillibibi, and pound plantain to name just a few of the influences. These cultural norms would be explored in greater depth as they relate to, and highlight the preservation and survival of African traditions by the African slaves in Trinidad and Tobago, and how this was achieved despite the legal and moral suasion to prohibit them.
Thus, this paper seeks to focus on how Africans in the Caribbean namely in the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago were able to preserve their heritage through resilience and innovation, and how these traditions and art forms are still kept alive today.