What is the Broken Windows principle?

Answer 1

This is a book based on an article titled Broken Windows by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, 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.

The theory thus makes two major claims: 1) further petty crime and low-level anti-social behavior will be deterred, and thus 2) major crime will be prevented.

The term has also found its way into software and web-site development.

Answer 2

Wilson And Kelling Broken Windows

Answer 3

The "broken windows" theory of crime : When one broken window is left unfixed, soon all the windows are broken. The broken window sends the message that no one cares about this property, that no one is in charge here, and that crime has no consequences. It informs the heart that there is a tear in the moral order and the boundaries which restrain us are broken. New York City had an astonishing drop in crime after they enforced laws against littering, graffiti, vandalism, drunk and disorderly and aggressive panhandling. Remove the superficial messages of disorder from the environment and the criminal loses his nerve. Crime thrives in darkness, confusion, and disorder. It withers in light, reason, and order.