Who was James Q Wilson?
James Q Wilson (1931-2012) was a social scientist known for co-authoring the 1982 article that introduced the 'broken window theory'.
In his broken windows article (written alongside George L Kelling), Wilson introduced the criminological theory that monitoring and maintaining urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime.
'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.'
In other words, little crimes (like vandalism) can lead to more serious crimes (like thefts, robberies, and assaults) The theory helped change the conversation when it came to crime in urban areas. The idea that unattended neighborhoods can turn into unattended crimes which can domino into more serious crimes. Proactive policing and attending to 'little' crimes will reduce crime and, in turn, stop more violent crimes from happening. The theory has been used as motivation for several crime strategies to eliminate crime from urban neighborhoods.
SpotCrime along with other crime maps, public police logs, neighborhood watch groups, crime prevention tactics (and even McGruff!) can be considered a direct result of the impact Wilson's theory had on the fight against crime. Stay connected to your community. Pay attention to crime and the 'broken windows' of your neighborhood.
Be sure to sign up for your local crime alerts. Stay aware, stay safe!
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| James Q Wilson |
In his broken windows article (written alongside George L Kelling), Wilson introduced the criminological theory that monitoring and maintaining urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime.
'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.'
In other words, little crimes (like vandalism) can lead to more serious crimes (like thefts, robberies, and assaults) The theory helped change the conversation when it came to crime in urban areas. The idea that unattended neighborhoods can turn into unattended crimes which can domino into more serious crimes. Proactive policing and attending to 'little' crimes will reduce crime and, in turn, stop more violent crimes from happening. The theory has been used as motivation for several crime strategies to eliminate crime from urban neighborhoods.
SpotCrime along with other crime maps, public police logs, neighborhood watch groups, crime prevention tactics (and even McGruff!) can be considered a direct result of the impact Wilson's theory had on the fight against crime. Stay connected to your community. Pay attention to crime and the 'broken windows' of your neighborhood.
Be sure to sign up for your local crime alerts. Stay aware, stay safe!
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