Youth signals outside court spark concern

Young men charged with violent offences are openly flashing apparent gang signs outside court, alarming the public and highlighting the growing influence of gang culture amid the country’s struggle to contain street violence.

The development has prompted a University of the West Indies sociologist to make urgent calls for better research and interventions to address the roots of youth involvement in gangs, as the accused head to trial or are sent on remand to Dodds Prison.

“Gangs are not peculiar to Barbados, “ Dr Dwayne Devonish, Professor of Management and Organisational Behaviour at UWI Cave Hill, told Barbados TODAY.

“The Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit had identified that across 50 blocks, which are local neighbourhood groupings, there were about six dominant gangs in Barbados. Something that is important to note is that gang membership ranges from 15 to 50 persons, with the typical age range as young as 17 to as old as 40 years of age. So I’m not surprised that a number of these young people in conflict with the law are connected to some gang affiliation.”

He cautioned against making assumptions: “Now I don’t think we have enough evidence to suggest that those young people in question are part of a gang because you could have people putting up gang signals or gang signs by hand and not necessarily indicating that they’re part of the gang. It could be a part of a culture . . . but I would dare say that we still have to be careful.”

Professor Devonish stressed that more research is urgently needed: “What we really need to kind of flesh out, and I think this came out from the report that was done by the Criminal Justice Research Unit, [is that] we need to do a lot more research among young men especially, and women, because women are also caught up in these gang-related activities, to find out what are the possible attraction sites or points or incentives that encourage young people to be involved and participate in gangs.”

The wider society also has a key role to play in combating the issue, as unfortunately, schools are increasingly becoming a critical background that helps to breed young offenders, he declared.

“We’ve also seen in research that there is gang presence in schools,” Professor Devonish said. “And there’s this gang culture that’s permeating. So it’s almost [like] the school becomes a recruitment ground for many gangs. So we have to also be vigilant here in this real law enforcement, other state agencies must be vigilant.”

He insisted that even though there is no current research, it is clear that the appeal of gang life is growing among young Barbadians.

Professor Devonish said: “It shows a worrisome trend . . . This celebration of gang activity and gang affiliation is not new. I think right now being arrested and being connected with a gang is seen as a badge of honour or what I considered to be a mark of toughness. So for many of these supporters and even those people who have been arrested, it may signal loyalty and courage and being a real, quote-unquote ‘soldier”.

“Celebrations like this can be a form of defiance against the police and the State, showing that the gang is not afraid of law enforcement. I’ve done research last year that has shown that there has been a decline in the level of respect and confidence that the public has in police and wider law enforcement,” he added. “In many communities, this repeated exposure to gang presence, gun culture, violence, is now making criminality appear normalised and even something to be praised, and that’s something that we have to stamp down very quickly and very intently.”

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb