The broken windows theory is a criminological theory of the norm setting and signaling effects of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and anti-social behavior. The theory states that monitoring and maintaining urban environments in a well-ordered condition may prevent further vandalism as well as an escalation into more serious crime.
The theory was introduced in a 1982 article by social scientists James Q. Wilson andGeorge L. Kelling. Since then it has been subject to great debate both within the social sciences and in the public debate. The theory has been used as a motivation for several reforms in criminal policy.
The broken windows theory has received support from several empirical studies. At the same time it has also been the subject of a large body of criticism.
Link to the original article (The Atlantic Magazine) click image too
Article and book
The broken windows theory was first introduced by social scientists James Q. Wilsonand George L. Kelling, in an article titled “Broken Windows” and which appeared in the March 1982 edition of The Atlantic Monthly. The title comes from the following example:
Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.
A successful strategy for preventing vandalism, say the book’s authors, is to fix the problems when they are small. Repair the broken windows within a short time, say, a day or a week, and the tendency is that vandals are much less likely to break more windows or do further damage. Clean up the sidewalk every day, and the tendency is for litter not to accumulate (or for the rate of littering to be much less). Problems do not escalate and thus respectable residents do not flee a neighborhood.
Yea to the people at the very east section of Vine who do such a great job de -littering
3 Comments
Finally, you are starting to see why residents are complaining about the local businesses…
The overflowing bin and building with the boards on the windows is owned by International Cheese, Topper has broken windows and trucks blocking sidewalks, the vegan cake place rarely cuts their lawn and has a rotting storage bin in their parking lot, the Rubber Factory stinks and we have a vacant lot at the top of the street that can't be developed (thanks to complaints from local industry).
No matter how hard we try to clean it up unless these businesses get on board we are fighting a loosing battle.
Hi, not that I did not understand it, and I am conversant with the problems all this causes, and that items like the cheese factory mess should not happen. I took a image of a Topper Linen truck sliding over the street on this past Sunday, and thought could they not ride the sidewalk 2 days of the week (the weekend) to give the residents a break.
A little encouragement, in '96 a few of us got the CPR to install smart start on the locomotives which greatly reduced pollution in the area and had them directed to not park trains in the residential area. ( they are to park them up by Walmart now)
They were also made to place a no parking train sign on the tracks by Vine Park.
A strong community group with lots of members helped the effort so much, however it seems people come and leave community groups quickly in the Junction so no strong continued efforts can be achieved.
We may disagree because, I really think the Junction needs light engineering to be viable, but that is no cause for discourteous behavior such as the pictured factories weekend, disrespect. Clean non fouling enterprises can exist, they do in many areas.
You can always phone the city property standards people who will come out and inspect and lay fines, especially when it looks like it does in that picture. We used to do it all the time on the old derelict buildings on Vine and those are no longer a problem.