Qualitative Evidence on the Implementation of Cure Violence in Trinidad and Tobago

Violence is a significant social problem in many cities throughout the world. In seeking to prevent or control violence, communities have put in place a variety of interventions. Many of these rely on the formal criminal justice process to arrest, prosecute, and imprison offenders. However, formal social control is well known to be an incomplete solution to violence. As a result, some communities have experimented with community-based solutions. One such approach is Cure Violence, an initiative that treats violence as a public health issue. Based on methods used to prevent the spread of infectious disease, Cure Violence seeks to stop the spread of violence within communities. This study presents qualitative results on the implementation of Cure Violence in Trinidad and Tobago, a two-island nation in the southeastern Caribbean near Venezuela. We conducted 36 in-depth semi-structured interviews and two focus groups with a variety of stakeholders, including program staff, residents, family members of victims, and police. Our findings suggest that the implementation of Cure Violence in Trinidad and Tobago led to educational and employment support for community members and a reduction in violence, particularly retaliation killings in the target communities. Our results are useful for understanding the factors that shape the implementation of community-based violence reduction initiatives like Cure Violence.