Imagine a building, such as a house or a neighborhood store. It has a broken window. It might have been an accident, but no one fixes it. Maybe nobody cares: someone would repair the window if they did. Eventually another window gets broken, vandalism this time, the building was an easy target because no one was taking care of it. Pretty soon the building has graffiti on the walls, and trash begins to pile up. Someone breaks in and finds the building unoccupied. Transients start squatting. People don't park their cars near the building, and they try not to walk by it at night.
It's not just the building that deteriorates though, the area around it begins to get worse. The way the neighborhood looks sends the message that the community can't or won't protect itself. Over time the decay spreads and criminals enter the area, causing residents to avoid communal spaces. They feel disconnected, and families may start to move away. People don't know their neighbors anymore. Transients sleep on the sidewalks. People are drunk in public, sell drugs in the open, and violence goes up. Small crimes lead to big crimes.
That's the idea behind the "Broken Windows" theory.
Clearly, it's important to fix that first window. A neighborhood where people take ownership of their community, get to know one another, and monitor public order is less at risk of minor crimes escalating into serious ones. By dealing with things as they come, like repairing vandalized property, picking up litter, or getting the homeless and the mentally ill the help they need, communities can protect themselves from deteriorating.
Augen Z received his Masters Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from a west coast university in 2014
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