Broken Windows Theory in the news

Criminological theory doesn't often pop up in the mainstream media, so I'll admit I had a little thrill this morning to see Drs. Wilson and Kelling's Broken Windows theory in the New York Times -- "Author of 'Broken Windows' policing defends his theory" (Sam Roberts, August 10, 2014). 

The Times coverage is actually pretty critical of the theory, now being linked to the recent choking death of a Staten Island man, Eric Garner. Case in point: "Critics denounce the theory as neoconservative pablum resulting in overpolicing and mass incarceration for relatively minor offenses...they say it was not derived from scientific evidence and its connection to the city’s drastic decline in major crime remains unproven. (Roberts, 2014). 

If you’re not familiar with Broken Windows theory, the basic idea is to have the police pay attention to little signs of disorder, like broken windows, litter, and graffiti. Minor quality-of-life offenses. Catch them while they’re small problems. If not, it’s like hanging out a sign to criminals that says ‘Hey! Come on in! You can get away with anything here and none of the residents or police will fuss.’

Some years ago, I drove through the upscale Summit NJ with, unbenowst to me, a broken tail light. While I was stopped at a stop light, a woman in a Mercedes pulled up next to me to inform me that my tail light was broken and I should get it fixed. I think of that as Broken Windows in action. Make a fuss about little ugly things – in this case, my car – before they become big, ugly and illegal things.

It’s one thing when residents point out things like litter, crumbled curbs, abandonned cars, and broken tail lights. When the police engage in it though, the downside is that they face being accused of disproportionately targeting the poor and people of color.

In response to the article’s point that Broken Windows’ impact on crime has been unproven, I went looking in the CJ literature to see what evaluations of the theory had been done, and what they found. I offer a few highlights below:

·        Yang (2012) found that physical and social disorder, and violence, are related in certain neighborhoods. But the relationship is described as “imperfect.” Some areas with disorder don’t experience violence.

·        Golub, Johnson, Taylor & Eterno (2003) – Based on interviews with 539 arrestees, the authors note that offenders are aware of heighened police presence through quality-of-life policing. Those offenders who committed disorder-type offenses cut back on doing so because of greater police presence.

·        Sampson & Raudenbush (1999) found that with the exception of robbery, there was no real relationship between crime and public disorder.

There are also a host of scholarly articles critical of the theory, for reasons touched on in the Times article. So the view of and evidence about Broken Windows and quality-of-life policing are mixed. (This isn't so different with other crime theories.) I don't think anyone could say that Broken Windows has been discredited, though. 

When Broken Windows went into effect in New York City in the 1990s, William Bratton was police commissioner under then-Mayor Rudy Guiliani. Now he’s police commissioner again, this time under far less hard-nosed Mayor Bill de Blasio. Whether Bratton will change his tune about quality-of-life policing will be revealed. As he recently stated, “We [the police] are not a racist organization – not at all.” (Hayes, 2014) So perhaps...

References:

Golub, A., Johnson, B.D., Taylor, A. & Eterno, J. (2003). Quality-of-life policing: Do offenders get the message? Policing, 26(4), 690-707.

Hayes, T. (2014). NYC Police Commissioner William Bratton: 'We are not a racist organization.' Huffington Post, August 9th. Viewable at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/09/bill-de-blasio-choke-hold_n_5664453.html. 

Roberts, S. (2014). Author of 'Broken Windows' defends his theory. New York Times, August 10th. Viewable at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/nyregion/author-of-broken-windows-policing-defends-his-theory.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0. 

Sampson, R.J. & Raudenbush, S.W. (1999). Systematic social observation of public spaces: A new look at disorder in urban neighborhoods. American Journal of Sociology, 105(3), 603-51.

Yang, S.M. (2012). “Assessing the spatial–temporal relationship between

disorder and violence.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 26, 139-163.