Order in the Hood

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the theory of 'Broken Windows' by Wilson and Kelling. According to this paper, the 'broken windows' theory is the basis of what is known today as the 'zero tolerance' policy. This paper explains how the above mentioned theories show the common criminal that the residents of the neighbourhood no longer care about the level of dilapidation.

From the Paper:

"In 1982, an article titled "Broken Windows" appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, positing a new approach to neighborhood safety and crime prevention. In this article, authors Wilson and Kelling describe the sociological and psychological conditions of big-city urban decay and offer a solution they call the "broken windows" theory. The theory, known today as the "zero tolerance" policy, claims that a single broken window indicates to criminals that citizens "no longer care" about their neighborhood (Wilson and Kelling 31). Wilson and Kelling link community apathy and neighborhood dilapidation to crime. While they admit that their sociological evidence does not support this link directly (29), they claim that neighborhood fear and perceived safety is, in fact, directly responsible for crime and, more specifically, for crime prevention (31). "

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