Broken Window Theory Essay

1125 Words3 Pages

Broken Window theory has a familiar ring, perhaps because it mirrors, “Nip it, nip it in the bud” as chimed by the character Barny Fife during the 1960’s television series the Andy Griffith Show. The theory is closely linked with conservatives politically and sociologically as well as concentrating on social cohesion through strict ideologies of law and order. However, Broken Window theory is also based on ecological causes of crime that is known as criminology of place or environmental criminology (Schmalleger, F. 2015). Criminology of place allows that areas, due to ecological features such as architecture or geographic location can induce criminal activity. In 1982 in an article written by Dr. James Q. Wilson and George Kelling called Broken …show more content…

Police by focusing on the poor can be viewed as targeting those who cannot afford a defense. Shifting police resources away from other areas or even more severe crimes while failing to understand actual criminal motivations, does not serve humanity in the long run. Victimless crimes are given importance over white-collar crime with true victims as well just pushing criminals to go underground or to other neighborhoods, does not end crime just relocates criminal activity. Perhaps the greatest injustice of Broken Windows is not correcting the issues that led to the decline of the area. How does an are within a city become disenfranchised and in ruin thereby attracting and encouraging crime? What resources could have been utilized to revive an area, short of magnified arrests and focus?
Broken windows theory may serve some value once a city has lost site of a zone and allowed its decline thereby effectively reallocating resources to areas with high concentrations of crime. However, crime occurs in all neighborhoods, by focusing on poor declining areas may be better served by preventive measures. Broken Windows may be a short-term solution that may help to improve an area that has become crime ridden, but moving police focus on one area of town and then another as crime mapping may be counterproductive that may be realized by Chicago and

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