Broken Window Theory

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The Broken Window Theory

The broken window theory was originally proposed by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982. Broken Window Theory is a criminological theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and anti-social behavior This theory used broken windows as a metaphor for run down neighborhoods. If a neighborhood is kind of old looking and run down then, the theory suggests that the people are the same as their environment and that they are more likely to commit a crime. Even on the streets of the “bad side of town,” as some people would say, had white officers walk and patrol the streets of a predominantly black side of town. They had to obey the “street laws” and if not then …show more content…

The reason why I say this is because I think that everywhere around the world there is at least one broken window city. There is always that neighborhood where you have run down buildings, trash all over the place, and abandoned cars, which people would call them the “bad neighborhoods.” Nothing is wrong particularly wrong with these neighborhoods, they just don’t have the encouragement to fix them, especially when the police come and harass the people just because of the color of their skin and environment they live in. The idea behind the theory itself was that if the government enforce people who do little crimes then it’s going to represent a successful strategy and prevent people from doing serious crimes like rape, robbery, murder, etc. I truly believe that if a criminal wants to commit a crime, then they will do so. It’s not fair for black people to get stalked and harassed for not “obeying the street laws” when white people can be publicly intoxicated and being loud towards one another and not get penalized for it. If the people are treated like animals that can’t be trusted, then they’re going to act just like that. If a white cop was walking down the street and passes a black man in my city or anywhere else, they would be more attentive to the black man than they would if he were to walk pass a white man like himself.

McKee, Adam J. "Broken Windows Theory." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

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