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Conclusion on broken window theory in the social world
Conclusion on broken window theory in the social world
Social factors contributing to crime
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The broken windows theory argues that if one broken window is not repaired, then a domino effect will follow and gradually more windows will be broken. This theory is argued by Wilson and Kelling, and they say that if a window is left broken, then no one really cares about the community, so more and more windows will continuously break without punishment. The main argument of this theory is that if a community is fully of crime, and they do not do anything about it, then crime will continuously happen. Shaw and McKay’s social disorganization can be connected to the broken windows theory. The main argument of the social disorganization theory is that a poor sense of community and weak social controls cause crime. So if you live in a bad neighborhood
Alex Kotowits’ book, There Are No Children Here, follows two young boys over a course of two years. The environment that the children are raised in is a lower income area that is surrounded by violence, gangs, and crime. The best theory to explain this novel would be strain theory, followed by social disorganization theory. Being raised in poverty generates many issues, which then makes children rebel later in life. Many families experience different types of strain such as experience strain, vicarious strain, and anticipated strain. This not only affects the person who is experiencing strain, but also affects other people who are around them. The novel presents a good example of both general strain theory and early social disorganization theory
The broken windows theory, was proposed by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling (1982). This used broken windows to describe disorder within neighbourhoods.Their theory links disorder and unsociable behavior within a community leading to serious crime. Prior to theories such as broken windows, law enforcement and police tended to focus on the serious crime. However, Wilson and Kelling took a different view from this. They saw serious crime as the final result of a chain of events, which emerged from disorder. If we eliminated disorder, then serious crimes would not occur as mentioned by Mckee
In that publication, George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson had their essay “Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety” published. The essay was meant to address crime within neighborhoods, and based on the ideas in the essay the broken windows theory emerged. The basis for the idea was that if a neighborhood allowed one broken window to stay broken, then the neighborhood would soon suffer more broken windows. The idea of the theory is that serious crimes such as murder and rape are enabled by misdemeanor level crimes like public intoxication, vandalism, prostitution, loitering, and vagrancy type crimes. Within the belief of the theory, people are not naturally bad individuals. It is the environment in which they are raised and they live in that is responsible for their criminal behavior. To respond to these lower level crimes, the essay says that patrol officers should be encouraged, or managed to get out of their police cars and walk the beat. This way, they are mingling amongst the citizens and building good relationships with the people that live in those neighborhoods. They are also expected to address people committing those minor crimes already listed by either arrests or citations depending on their
Another assumption made by Wilson and Kelling about community policing is that community disarray leads to more crime. This is the foundation of the broken window theory. If a community accepts vacant lots, broken windows, and graffiti then criminals will find this an easy mark. These conditions
The Broken Windows theory helps to accomplish many important objectives that all government agencies in America deem essential; increasing the quality of life for citizens, helping to prevent future crimes from occurring, as well as promote a positive relationship between the police and the citizens they protect. Of course this idea isn’t flawless, but does provide solutions for the problems mentioned. The implementation of this theory will reduce crime, but more importantly increase the feeling of safety for citizens. By keeping community disorder and minor crimes in check, communities look more orderly and foster community pride. Of course people think the biggest job of the police force is to fight major crime, but in reality, they can accomplish just as much by community policing and enforcing minor incivilities more strictly.
In conclusion, both strain/anomie and social disorganization theories are both very important theories in explaining the causation of crime and deviance. Many theorists today often rely heavily on these theories. As crime and society continue to change, these theories will continue to provide a solid foundation for future theories created.
According to Cullen and Agnew (2011) the Social Disorganization theory was developed in the mid 1940’s by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay while they were researchers studying at the Institute for Social Research in Chicago. Shaw and McKay (1942) based their research of the study of crime in Chicago off of the work that Ernest Burgess theorized in how urban areas grow through a process of continual expansion from their inner core toward outlying areas. According to Cullen and Agnew (20011) one of the primary arguments in the social disorganization theory is the idea that there are settlement patterns in the development of cities, and how these patterns impact neighborhood characteristics and corresponding crime levels. Shaw and McKay developed a theory based off the settlement pattern research that Ernest Burgess conducted. According to Cullen and Agnew (2011) Ernest Burgess stated ...
Theorists believe that Shaw and McKay were biased when they wrote their conclusion on the lower-class neighborhood. This in turn resulted in other critics questioning if the demographics such as socio-economic, the setting of the communities and the population that composed the communities were indicators of social disorganization or if social theorists constitute their reasoning based on their own beliefs. According to Kurbin (2010), Criminologist Edwin Sutherland preferred to call Shaw and McKay’s social disorganization theory the differential social organization because of his belief that “the organization of the delinquent group, which is often very complex, is social disorganization only from an ethical or some other particularistic point of view.” This may be interpreted as him stating that a social group, such as a delinquent one, is only perceived as “disorganized” based on personal biases. According to Sutherland, some urban neighborhoods are not disorganized but organized based on the daily needs of the unique community. For example, if an outsider born and raised in a community with different set of values looks into a community with another perspective on how to function in a social environment, the outsider may think that they are wrong and ridiculous for living in such a matter. The outsider
There are many studies that point out some risk factors that could be responsible for criminality, but it would not be appropriate to say that is specifically poverty or the current economy. This field of study is uncertain about affirming this kind of assumption. But all this discussion about Broken Windows Theory leads us to reflect why not try to prevent crime instead of act after the crime has been committed?
Two major sociological theories explain youth crime at the macro level. The first is Social Disorganization theory, created in 1969 by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. The theory resulted from a study of juvenile delinquency in Chicago using information from 1900 to 1940, which attempts to answer the question of how aspects of the structure of a community contribute to social control. The study found that a community that is unable to achieve common values has a high rate of delinquency. Shaw and McKay looked at the physical appearance of the neighborhoods, the average income of the population, the ethnicity of the neighborhood, the percent of renters versus owners, and how fast the population of the area changed. These factors all contribute to neighborhood delinquency.
This theory however as some have argued has emerged from social disorganisation theory, which sees the causes of crime as a matter of macro level disadvantage. Macro level disadvantage are the following: low socioeconomic status, ethnic or racial heterogeneity, these things they believe are the reasons for crime due to the knock on effect these factors have on the community network and schools. Consequently, if th...
The Broken Windows Theory is just one of the strategies we use today in modern policing. The theory was created by James Q. Wilson in 1982. The theory states that if
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, northern cities such as Chicago were experiencing social problems because of population booms caused by “waves of immigrants, displaced farm workers, and blacks fleeing the rural south” (Gabbidon, 2010). By the 1920s the University of Chicago had put together a group of scholars to investigate the social ills plaguing the city. Together, these scholars combined their ideas to formulate what is now known as the “Chicago School” (Gabbidon, 2010).
Social Disorganization theory talks about how one’s surroundings impacts the risk of crime around them. The Social Disorganization Theory was developed to show how much a neighbors and its surroundings affect people and crime. There are many factors that go with crime according to the Social Disorganization Theory. One major factor is Ethnic Diversity. According to the Social Disorganization Theory, the more diverse urban areas are, the more likely their is to be crime committed. (Social Disorganization, 2003). The ethnicity of the community affects crime because of the lack of communication. If you have language barriers, and people who do not understand each other, they may be some tension resulting in more crime. Social Disorganization
Therefore, the community has informal social control, or the connection between social organization and crime. Some of the helpful factors to a community can be informal surveillance, movement-governing rules, and direct intervention. They also contain unity, structure, and integration. All of these qualities are proven to improve crime rate. Socially disorganized communities lack those qualities. According to our lecture, “characteristics such as poverty, residential mobility, and racial/ethnic heterogeneity contribute to social disorganization.” A major example would be when a community has weak social ties. This can be caused from a lack of resources needed to help others, such as single-parent families or poor families. These weak social ties cause social disorganization, which then leads higher levels of crime. According to Seigel, Social disorganization theory concentrates on the circumstances in the inner city that affect crimes. These circumstances include the deterioration of the neighborhoods, the lack of social control, gangs and other groups who violate the law, and the opposing social values within these neighborhoods (Siegel,