Broken windows is based on a theory first introduced by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in 1982 called “Broken Windows”. The article first appeared in a March edition of Atlanta Monthly, basically stating that identifying problem areas and repairing them early enough will prevent said problems from escalating into more serious crime. (Wilson and Kelling, 1982) Wilson and Kelling pointed out that neighborhoods with worn, unkempt buildings, graffiti, and yes, broken windows, sends the message that the neighborhood is uncared for, and thus delinquents and deviants can run rampant without fear of reprisal or arrest. In short, indifference leads to urban decay. Law abiding citizens will hide, afraid to leave their homes, feeling vulnerable to crime and abandoned by their police department.
He believe that crime can neither be explained or tackled by welfare programmes or policies aimed at redistributing wealth and income. Many poor people such as the elderly and the sick don't commit crime so poverty in itself can't be considered a cause of crime. Wilson focuses on what he calls predatory Street scrimes, such as Robbery, Burglary, theft and murder. He argues that the general public are far more concerned about these crimes than they are about victimless crime and white collar crime. Street crimes are particularly important because they undermine communities, successful communities are the best protection again rising crime.
The Mayor of Chicago knew that they had to stop the campaigns from attracting media attention and to counteract this he ordered the police to avoid using violence and brutality and treat the campaigners with respect. This prevented the movement from gaining as much publicity and support than in the South. Another reason for King being less successful in the North compared to the South is because of the lack of support. He didn’t gain as many people as expected, for example his first campaign in the North, The Chicago Freedom Movement, only 30,000 people attended rather than the 100,000 King had expected. This meant that the campaign wasn’t as effective as he intended and that it wasn’t big enough and didn’t get as much of a reaction as they first thought.
Clutter’s friends go to clean up the residence as their “moral responsibility.” The local precinct begins its investigation of the crime scene. Alvin Dewey is the commander of the police and in charge of the investigation. Dewey has a hunch that the homicide involved two perpetrators. Making it increasingly difficult for the police was the lack of motive for the Murder of the Clutter family. There were few valuables in the house.
Zimbardo then took a similar car to Palo Alto, California, an upscale area, but this time there was no damaged license plate and the doors were closed and locked. It sat, undisturbed, for a week. Zimbardo then damaged the car with a hammer, including breaking a window (hence, the “broken window experiment”). The result was that the car became a hulk on cinder blocks within three days (Rovira). This experiment translated to a policing philosophy that by taking care of the small things, the broken windows, the petty crimes, an area, a neighborhood, or an entire city would be seen as something not subject to damage.
Broken Windows Impact Mellicent Ear AJS 502 3/ 5/12 STEVEN DUPLISSIS Why do robbers make the choice to prey on one neighborhood, but completely avoids another neighborhood? Is that choice as easy as when a teenager picks her shoes? Perhaps not, but in order to answer this question, one must consider the type of people in that community, and also study the history of the community crime statistics. After a considerable amount of analyzing and interpretation, sociologists George Kelling and James Q. Wilson, focus on the idea of broken windows concept. This “broken windows” policy eventually fueled the community policing movements, and also the evolution of community prosecution, community courts, and community probation and parole.
To:The Honorable Mayor of the City of Birmingham From:Kristie D. Church Date:July, 10, 2012 Re:Policy recommendation allowing juvenile offenders to join the military instead of going to prison EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Due to the lack of job opportunity and the increasing amount of youth dropping out of school, the trend of youths committing criminal acts is a rapidly growing problem. Some of these acts can be attributed to substance abuse, neglect, inadequate education, mental or physical abuse or a lack of discipline or positive family structure. A few may even commit criminal acts due to boredom or peer pressure. Whatever the reason might be, it is evident that the threat of jail does not carry the weight that it once held and alternative measures should be considered. A positive approach to this situation should be to offer the alternative of joining the military.
Broken-windows theory has suggested a way of thinking in the community. Citizens feel safer when police departments conduct more foot patrols in the neighborhood, and feel the police were more aware of the crime that are occurring. As time progressed into the adaptation of the motorized patrol, some people felt that the police had lost touch with the community and were not aware of the small underlying issues of the bigger crimes that occurred. Through the theory of broken-windows, a zero-tolerance style of policing was developed. Some police departments, such as New York, implemented the zero tolerance style and claimed that it lowered their crime rates in the mid 1990’s.
The ownership of decisions regarding the responses to crime belong to key stakeholders, which include the offenders, the victims and the community (Gerkin, 2012). Unfortunately, concerns of housing, employment, finances and transportation seem to be ignored by many members of the community, discouraging positive integration back into community, thus lowering the rates of recidivism. In fact, the state brings charges against individuals and the state administers the level of justice to be served on offenders (Gerkin, 2012). However, a close look at the majority-rule democracy reveals that the interests of many marginalized groups are not addressed (Bazemore & Schiff, 2001). Majority-rule decision making often leaves individuals and groups feeling left out, alienated, and the case of the mentally ill, unaware of how to take care of their situations (Bazemore & Schiff, 2001).
Situational Crime Prevention Reducing opportunities for crime: 'Target hardening' measures include locking doors, security guards. Measures may displace crime, moving to different places, times. However--> this approach does more than displace, e.g. from coal gas to natural gas reduced total suicides. Environmental crime pevention WILSON and KELLING--> 'broken windows' (graffiti, begging) that arnt dealt with send out a signal that no one cares.