The Socioeconomic Factors and its Impact on Prison Reentry Among Men Who Commit Serious Crimes in Trinidad and Tobago
Abstract
The objective of the study is to investigate whether the Socioeconomic factors
that were found to impact criminal offending in countries such as United States,
Pakistan, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Texas would also be the same for
incarcerated men in Trinidad and Tobago, who reenter prison. Social
Disorganization Theory was used as the main theoretical framework. The
methodology that was utilized within the study was quantitative, with the use of a
secondary data source from a preexisting prison sample, a study conducted in
2018. The sample derived from five prisons in Trinidad and Tobago, with the
sample size of 339 convicted male prisoners. Statistical testing was conducted
using the Chi- Square measurement to find the association and relationship among
the study variables. The results suggested that prison reentry was impacted by
age, education level, family history in offending, employment and income level,
and family support. Also, most of the offender’s reentry prison two times or less
and three times and more making prison reentry high in Trinidad and Tobago.
Noteworthy, many of the factors that challenge inmates in other countries are not
the experiences encountered by the local sample of prisoners. Yet, prison reentry
is high, which is pertinent to signaling future research.