Broken Window Theory Essay

“The Broken Windows Theory is a criminological theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and antisocial behavior,” wikipedia. The idea relies on a trio of sociological theories - conformity, the effect of monitoring, and the concept of signaling. Conformity is the idea that people tend to do what others around them are doing. Someone walking down the street eating a hamburger, for example, is less likely to throw the wrapper in a trash can if the sidewalk is already strewn with hamburger wrappers from other people who have chosen to litter. An area clean from litter indicates to a person that there are rules against littering and that they are followed, monitored and enforced. In districts where there cannot be a constant law presence, things such as litter-free sidewalks signal that there is nevertheless an orderly environment being maintained.

The project is getting rid of crime yet, it’s still allowing a type of crime to be committed. It’s as if you were telling (for example), your sibling to clean up their room, so they throw everything in their closet. It defeats the point of cleaning the room but, the room is clean, just not the closet. The Broken Window Theory works very well by not letting more serious acts of crime committed. Yet still allow crime to happen. The trouble with broken windows theory is that it is really no theory per se, for we have to ask the simple question: what is the theoretical basis for it? In other words, what is the rationale for claiming that if we start arresting minor offenders like window washers, then serious crime will go down? Another important question: Why are windows in poor communities broken in the first place? Another reasonable question would be: How many broken windows have been repaired