[Durham INC] [pac2] Story on "broken-window" theory in Boston Globe

Sun Feb 8 15:28:20 EST 2009

Excellent reading!  Thank you Diane.

Bill Anderson

In a message dated 2/8/2009 9:06:19 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
didaniel at aol.com writes:

Since this is something we've discussed frequently, I thought I'd share  this 
interesting story on "broken-window" theory in today's Boston Globe. I've  
put the first several paragraphs of story below, and here's the URL. Globe  
online is free, but you do have to register to read it. Lowell, by the way, is  30 
miles northwest of Boston. 

Diane Daniel on Clarendon

_http://www.boston.http://wwhttp://www.bostohttp://www.bohttp://www.http://www
.bohttp://wwwhttp://_ 
(http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/08/breakthrough_on_broken_windows) 

By Carolyn Y. Johnson
Globe Staff

LOWELL, MASS. - The year was 2005 and Lowell was being turned into a real  
life crime-fighting laboratory.

Researchers, working with police, identified 34 crime hot spots. In half  of 
them, authorities set to work - clearing trash from the sidewalks, fixing  
street lights, and sending loiterers scurrying. Abandoned buildings were  
secured, businesses forced to meet code, and more arrests made for  misdemeanors. 
Mental health services and homeless aid referrals  expanded.
In the remaining hot spots, normal policing and services  continued.
Then researchers from Harvard and Suffolk University sat back  and watched, 
meticulously recording criminal incidents in each of the hot  spots.
The results, just now circulating in law enforcement circles, are  striking: 
A 20 percent plunge in calls to police from the parts of town that  received 
extra attention. It is seen as strong scientific evidence that the  
long-debated "bro ken windows" theory really works - that disorderly  conditions breed 
bad behavior, and that fixing them can help prevent  crime.
"In traditional policing, you went from call to call, and that was  it - 
you're chasing your tail," said Lowell patrol officer Karen Witts on a  recent 
drive past a boarded up house that was once a bullet-pocked trouble  spot. Now, 
she says, there appears to be a solid basis for a policing strategy  that 
preemptively addresses the conditions that promote crime.
Many police  departments across the country already use elements of the 
broken windows  theory, or focus on crime hot spots. The Lowell experiment offers 
guidance on  what seems to work best. Cleaning up the physical environment was 
very  effective; misdemeanor arrests less so, and boosting social services had 
no  apparent impact.
Such evidence-based policing is essential, argues David  Weisburd, a 
professor of administration of justice at George Mason University.  "We demand it in 
fields like medicine," Weisburd said. "It seems to me with  all the money we 
spend on policing, we better be able to see whether the  programs have the 
effects we intend them to have."
And this particular  study, he said, is "elegant" in how clearly it 
demonstrated crime prevention  benefits.
The broken windows theory was first put forth in a 1982 Atlantic  article by 
James Q. Wilson, a political scientist then at Harvard, and George  L. 
Kelling, a criminologist. The theory suggests that a disorderly environment  sends a 
message that no one is in charge, thus increasing fear, weakening  community 
controls, and inviting criminal behavior. It further maintains that  stopping 
minor offenses and restoring greater order can prevent serious  crime.
That theory has been hotly debated even as it has been widely  deployed.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Diane Daniel,  freelance writer
Blog: www.placeswegopeoplBlog: www.
NC guidebook:  www.farmfreshnc.NC 
Everything else:  www.bydianedaniel.Eve
1221 Clarendon St., Durham, NC  27705
919-286-9293;  diane at bydianedaniel919-

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