In 1969, Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist from Stanford University, ran an interesting field study. He abandoned two cars in two very different places: one in a mostly poor, crime-ridden section of New York City, and the other in a fairly affluent neighborhood of Palo Alto, Calif. Both cars were left without license plates and parked with their hoods up.
After just 10 minutes, passersby in New York City began vandalizing the car. First they stripped it for parts. Then the random destruction began. Windows were smashed. The car was destroyed. But in Palo Alto, the other car remained untouched for more than a week.
Finally, Zimbardo did something unusual: He took a sledgehammer and gave the California car a smash. After that, passersby quickly ripped it apart, just as they’d done in New York.
This field study was a simple demonstration of how something that is clearly neglected can quickly become a target for vandals. But it eventually morphed into something far more than that. It became the basis for one of the most influential theories of crime and policing in America: “broken windows.”
Thirteen years after the Zimbardo study, criminologists George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson wrote an article for The Atlantic. They were fascinated by what had happened to Zimbardo’s abandoned cars and thought the findings could be applied on a larger scale, to entire communities.
“The idea [is] that once disorder begins, it doesn’t matter what the neighborhood is, things can begin to get out of control,”
Order maintenance typically involves calls for service such as suspicious person complaints, intoxicated persons, or loud-music calls. Such relatively minor complaints are basic to an approach referred to as ‘broken windows.” A major premise of broken windows theory is that neighborhood social disorder causes a decline of overall conditions and leads to more violent criminal activity.
“Once you begin to deal with the small problems in neighborhoods, you begin to empower those neighborhoods,” says Kelling. “People claim their public spaces, and the store owners extend their concerns to what happened on the streets. Communities get strengthened once order is restored or maintained, and it is that dynamic that helps to prevent crime.”
Kelling and Wilson proposed that police departments change their focus. Instead of channeling most resources into solving major crimes, they should instead try to clean up the streets and maintain order — such as keeping people from smoking pot in public and cracking down on subway fare beaters.
The argument came at an opportune time, says Columbia University law professor Bernard Harcourt.
“This was a period of high crime, and high incarceration, and it seemed there was no way out of that dynamic. It seemed as if there was no way out of just filling prisons to address the crime problem.”
Q#1: What’s your opinion about the premise of the ‘broken window’ theory? (arresting people for misdemeanors in hopes of preventing more serious crimes) (Support your answer).
Many police departments began targeting suspicious looking people before they committed a misdemeanor. (“why even wait for the misdemeanor? Why not go ahead and stop, question and search anyone who looked suspicious?)
Q#2: Would you be in favor of a more restrictive use of police work by targeting ‘suspicious’ individuals? Why/why not?
Q#3: Do you think if police concentrate on ‘small crimes’ (vandals, gang members, prostitution, etc.) it will lead to a reduction in major crimes? (Explain/support your answer).
Q#4: What are some negative consequences when police concentrate their efforts on petty offenders?
Q#5: Come up with and BRIEFLY describe one (1) alternative that police departments can incorporate into their work that could possibly have the same impact on crime in communities?
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