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 '. 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 a...