Broken Window Theory: What is it?

Theory of broken windows — it is a criminological concept that states that visible signs of petty crime, antisocial behavior and disorder create an atmosphere that provokes more serious crimes. This theory was first formulated by social psychologist James Quilson and political scientist George Kelling in a 1982 article «Broken Windows» in The Atlantic magazine.

The basic idea is that if a broken window in a building is not replaced, it gives a signal that no one cares and more windows will soon be broken. This will cause people to start leaving garbage and then possibly causing other petty crimes. As a result, visible disorder creates anxiety and fear in the townspeople. This forces people to avoid these places, which leads to a closed circle — space becomes less and less safe and more and more neglected. Over time, this environment attracts more serious criminals because they perceive it as a place where social control is absent and it is possible to act with impunity.

In a clean and well-kept space, we feel like a part of the community that cares about this place. We tend to keep it in order because we feel personally responsible. When the place looks abandoned, this feeling disappears. We no longer identify with this space, and our desire to protect or preserve it disappears. This leads to an increased effect of deindividuation, when a person feels anonymous and less responsible for his actions, so it is easier to commit vandalism or hooliganism.

The authors of the concept used the psychologist's experiment as an illustration Philip Zimbardo. In 1969, he left two identical cars in different areas: one — in the poor and disadvantaged Bronx, New York, and the other — in the prosperous Palo Alto, California. The car in the Bronx was dismantled within 24 hours. Zimbardo then broke the window himself in the car parked in Palo Alto. After that, people began to destroy it as well. This experiment showed that visible disorder can contribute to further destruction, regardless of social context.

The most famous practical application of broken window theory was the «zero tolerance» policy introduced by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the 1990s. The police began to harshly suppress minor offenses (traveling «hares» in the subway, graffiti and minor vandalism). Since the implementation of this policy, the crime rate in New York has decreased significantly.

Many studies show that the link between disorder and crime is not direct. Instead, both phenomena can be the result of the same underlying social factors, such as economic depression, social inequality, poverty, low levels of collective efficiency (collective efficiency — community's ability to unite to achieve common goals) and population instability. In other words, disorder and crime are on the rise where the social fabric is weak, and police measures against disorder can only mask but not address the root cause.

Studies that have analyzed data from many cities and countries (meta-analyses) have found no conclusive evidence that «broken window policy» is an effective way to prevent crime. For example, some researchers argue that the decline in crime in the US in the 1990s was due to improved economies, the end of the crack epidemic, and demographic changes (a decrease in the proportion of young men who most often committed crimes).

The «zero tolerance» policy has a negative social consequence, in particular, the disproportionately large number of arrests among racial and social minorities, contributed to the growth of mistrust of the police, the destruction of families and the deepening of social inequality.

From an urbanistic perspective, the theory sees the city as a complex system of relationships between physical space, social behavior, and security. She emphasizes that small details of the urban environment have a huge impact on the behavior of its inhabitants

Uncleared garbage, broken benches, broken lanterns or graffiti are a signal for people that is perceived on a subconscious level and means that no one is watching this space and it is «abandoned». Urbanism uses this idea to justify that the quality of the urban environment directly affects the quality of life.

The broken windows theory emphasizes the importance of proactive city management. Instead of responding only to serious crimes, city governments and communities should focus on creating spaces that physically repel vandalism and encourage social interaction.