Broken Windows Theory, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The broken windows theory has been advanced as one of the means by which the police can effectively curb crime. It has drawn support and rejection in equal measure from among both the popular and academic media (Thacher p2).Both sides have credible reasons for taking the stands they have hitherto taken, and opinion is currently split on which side to lean. It is imperative that both arguments are understood and they positive and negative sides explored with regard to crime control. Where this theory has been applied in the United States, the authorities have taken to community policing in an effort to curb the petty crimes and by so doing, hopefully, curb larger crimes (Bernard p4). It has been assumed that the employment of this theory could lead to a safer society with few prisoners and better observation of the law.

Community Policing and Law Enforcement

Community policy entails devolution of the police service to the neighborhood and involvement of members of the public in the provision of police services. It entails a behavior change approach and thus ensures tackling the crimes at the grass roots. Through this model, petty crime is handled before it explodes out of control. The lifestyle that is considered contributory to crime is adjusted and alternatives provided (James p1).

Effectiveness of Problem-Solving Approach In Crime Reduction

This approach has been found to work. It has bee applied not only in the US but also in countries like New Mexico and the Netherlands (Bernard p3). In such instances, police have moved into the neighborhoods and abolished all that as thought to be behind the high crime rates. In these cases also, more arrests on misdemeanors in addition to felonies were effected.

Environmental was improved through cleaning of the railway stations, improved street lighting and clearing of alleys. Other measures included in the model were screening and treatment of the menatly ill and provision of other health services to the street urchins.

Merits of the Broken Windows Theory and Its Impact on U.S

Community policing was employed in New York City and Massachusetts in the United States. The main strategy targeted the subway streets where graffiti artistry and general dirt was cleared. The model was executed in the 1990s and around 2005 in the above two areas respectively. In New York, the police ensured that everybody paid their fare, discouraged pubic drinking and urination (Corman p1). This was witnessed by a dramatic and sustained decrease in both petty and serious offences for a decade. In Lowell, Massachusetts, the police carried out a case-control study of specific crime prone areas. Half of these areas (cohorts) underwent interventions including clean up and lighting of the streets, provision of homes for the destitute, control of public loitering and provision of psychiatric care. The other half (controls) were left without any interventions. The end result was a reduction in crime rate by up to twenty percent in the intervened cases wile no change was recorded from among the controls. (Suffolk University p2).

Quality of Life Adjustments To Suppress Traditional Criminal Acts

The assumption here is that some circumstances in life predispose to crime. Such include poor housing, unemployment, mental disorders and alcohol and substance abuse. Others are poor street lighting, poor garbage disposal and graffiti art in alleys. It is such that the broken window theory has tried to address to decrease crime rates.

Programs and Other Constitutional Initiatives Towards the Broken Windows Theory

Notable is the case where abortion was legalized. It was argued that kids who were not finically able tended into crime than the well off ones. The government legalized the abortion to give the poor women the option of termination of pregnancy when they thought they could not support these children. As a result, few children were born to the poor and as such the numbers of poor kids in the streets and subsequently was thought to contribute to the reduction in crime that was observed in New York in the nineties.

Technology and Policing

Modern day policing needs to use the best technology in the market to meet the demands of combating crime. This involves the use of genetic profiling and DNA analysis for evidence as well as the use of forensic evidence to track down and net criminals. Gangs toolkits and updated crimes data bases seem to be the way out in improving community policing.

Conclusion

The broken windows theory has worked in a number of areas in the United States to bring about a decrease in the crime rates. It is a wonderful policy that can work wonders when effectively employed. However, hindrances still persist. Not all cases have been met with significant reduction in major crimes when the misdemeanors are handled. Scholars have come out lately and faulted the direction connection between lifestyle and crime, as the theory tries to bring out (Thacher p2). There have been reports in the popular media of automobile theft and murder rising in areas where the theory was applied. Other confounders have also been cited as possible reasons for the recorded reduction in crime rates in the target areas. Therefore, it may be wide to conclude that wide ranging interventions are put in place, the broken window theory being one of them, in the tackling of crime.

Cited Works

Bernard E.  Illusion of Order: The False Promise of Broken Windows Policing Harvard University, Massachusetts 2001

Corman, H. Carrots, Sticks and Broken Windows  Web Retrieved 04 Dec 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixing_Broken_Windows#cite_ref-3>

James Q. Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety Web Retrieved 04 Dec 2009 < http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/_atlantic_monthly-broken_windows>

Suffolk University. Research Boosts Broken Windows Web Retrieved 04 Dec 2009 <http://www.suffolk.edu/34417.html >

Thacher, D. Order Maintenance Maintained Web Retrieved 04 Dec 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixing_Broken_Windows#cite_ref-3 >