the university of the west indies open campus reports of gangs in jamaican schools julie meeks...
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THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIESOPEN CAMPUS
Reports of gangs in Jamaican schools
Julie Meeks GardnerJoan Thomas
Caribbean Child Development Centre, Consortium for Social Development and Research, University of the West Indies, Open Campus
Col. Oral KhanSafe Schools Initiative
Ministries of National Security, Health, Education
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIESOPEN CAMPUS
Background Background • Much of the violence in Jamaica attributed to Much of the violence in Jamaica attributed to
gangsgangs• Anecdotal information only regarding Anecdotal information only regarding
involvement of children in gangsinvolvement of children in gangs• Safe Schools Initiative designed and Safe Schools Initiative designed and
conducted survey to investigate gang conducted survey to investigate gang presence in schoolspresence in schools
• UWI commissioned to analyze resultsUWI commissioned to analyze results
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AimsAims
• To determine the scope of gang involvement To determine the scope of gang involvement in schools in Jamaicain schools in Jamaica
• To compare the results of different groups To compare the results of different groups surveyedsurveyed
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Method 1.Method 1.• Cross-sectional survey carried out in 2007Cross-sectional survey carried out in 2007• Govt.-supported secondary schoolsGovt.-supported secondary schools• 3 groups of respondents:3 groups of respondents:
– Principals Principals – School Resource Officers School Resource Officers – StudentsStudents
• Instrument:Instrument:– 30 items (closed)30 items (closed)– Self-administeredSelf-administered
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School Resource Officers (SROs):• Programme since 2004• Specially trained police officers• Deployed in high risk schools• Aim to reduce violence• Activities:
– mentoring students– mediating disputes– searching for weapons
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIESOPEN CAMPUS
Method 2.Method 2.• Instrument:Instrument:
– 30 items (closed)30 items (closed)– Self-administeredSelf-administered
• Data analysisData analysis– FrequenciesFrequencies– Results compared by respondent type,locationResults compared by respondent type,location– Details of gangs only analyzed where respondents Details of gangs only analyzed where respondents
indicated a problem with gangsindicated a problem with gangs– Questionnaires with no school name were omitted Questionnaires with no school name were omitted
from analysis from analysis
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ResultsResults• 124 schools (50%)124 schools (50%)• 51 Principals (20%)51 Principals (20%)• 27 SROs (28%)27 SROs (28%)• 240 students240 students
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Overlap in respondents’ schools
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Location of respondents
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Agreement among respondents from Agreement among respondents from the same schoolsthe same schools
• 5 schools had respondents from all categories• 2 questions compared
– ‘Is bullying a problem?’– ‘Are there gangs at your school?’
• Agreement ranged from 60-80%
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Bullying is a problem
Response
Principal reports (n=51)
SRO reports(n=27)
Student reports, mode*(n=87)
% % %
Yes 55 82 62
No 37 18 33
Don’t know 2 0 3
Total Responded 94 100 99
No response 6 0 1
Total 100 100 100
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIESOPEN CAMPUS
Gangs present in schools
Response
Principal reports (n=51)
SRO reports(n=27)
Student reports, mode*(n=87)
% % %
Yes 45 59 70
No 39 30 26
Don’t know 6 4 2
Total Responded 90 93 99
No response 10 7 1
Total 100 100 100
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Girls’ involvement in gangsGirls’ involvement in gangs
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Grades of gang membersGrades of gang members
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Number of gangsNumber of gangs
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Gang activitiesActivities Principal
reports (n=23) %
SRO reports(n=16)
%
Student reports(n=61)
%
Extortion 70 81 61
Drug use 74 88 54
Drug sale 35 31 30
Theft 61 81 67
Sexual harassment 22 50 67
Fights 87 94 82
Other activities† 0 0 7
† These were: gambling, smoking and intimidation
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School gangs linked to gangs outside
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Effectiveness of School Resource Officers
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Trends regarding gangs’ influence
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Gangs’ popularity among the general student body
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Analysis by location• All responses analyzed by location• No significant differences found by:
– Urban vs. rural– KSA vs. rest
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Summary• First quantitative survey of school gangs in Jamaica• Gangs and related activities in about half of schools • Gangs not confined to urban areas• Gangs in the community may be influencing school
gangs
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Limitations• Wide variation among respondents• Definitions of terms, though provided on
instrument may have been problematic• Informants were not gang members• Problems with self-completed questionnaires,
incomplete data
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Recommendations
• Improve negative activities of groups• Improve information sharing within
schools• Continued monitoring & more detailed
research
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIESOPEN CAMPUS
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIESOPEN CAMPUS