The Broken Window Theory

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The concept of the broken windows theory can be misleading due to its terminology. It is the notion that physical decay, or the ignoring of petty crimes, can breed disorder. In addition, it can lead to crime by signaling that laws are not being enforced. If crimes are not being addressed at the grassroots level, it will only flourish. With that being stated, the broken window’s theory should be continued in NYC by restructuring it.
Broken windows theory was coined by NYPD Commissioner Bratton in 1990’s when he was appointed as the NYC police commissioner. What the tenacity behind he believes in this policy was if a crime is being addressed belligerently for low-level crimes, it will decrease the risk of serious crimes. Furthermore, low-level …show more content…
The idea after it was, policing can be effective under this when it focuses on problem-solving within the community. It can do by police officers working along with community residents, businesses within that community. For instance by addressing the social and physical disorder surroundings at specific spaces. Also, this can include the use of situational crime prevention procedures. For example, graffiti removal, improved street lighting, and place managers. Looking back in history, in the 1990s, under NYPD Commissioner Bratton for the first time, “arrests for misdemeanor petit offenses, such as marijuana possession, were used as pretexts to find potential offenders for more serious crimes. Howell, K. B. (2016)”. During the beginning of 1990’s NYC also experienced a drop in the rate of violent crimes in comparison to the whole United States. This includes rape, robbery, and homicide. It can be stated that the implementation of such policy influenced to decrease in fear crimes in New York City. As well, in 1990’s violent crime dropped to over 56 percent in NYC, in comparison to about 28 percent in the entire nation. It was accessible during that time since the implementation of the broken window theory was implemented in an efficient way. Such as, although the arrests for misdemeanors went higher by 10 percent however the robberies went down by 2.5 to 3.2 percent, and motor vehicle theft dropped by 1.6 to 2.1 percent. Everything is interrelated. It also can be viewed as the good approach of broken theory in the beginning of 1990’s is a prime model for it. However, during that time the economy was significant doing as well. Furthermore, the national unemployment rate fell by 25 percent between 1990 and 1999. Also, the unemployment rate went down by 39 percent in the city between 1992 and 1999. The economy helped top reduce the crime to reduce in NYC as well aside from the broken windows
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