From Broken Windows to Broken Communities: The Effects of Broken Windows Practices in Communities of Color

• In Event: Rutgers at 50: Theoretical Contributions to Criminology

Abstract

In the early 1980s, George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson posited a new framework that argued that minute forms of public incivilities, like visibly damaged private property or social disorder, can lead over time to serious crime and a downward spiral of urban decay (Sampson & Raudenbush,2004). This approach, known as Broken Windows, inspired new models and tactics of law enforcement such as zero-tolerance policing or order-maintenance policing. In this presentation, I map the theoretical underpinnings of Broken Windows and explore the potential existence of racially coded language in descriptions of problematic behaviors, places, and people. More generally, I examine the extent to which Broken Windows imported into the field of criminology broader ideas signaling subcultural notions of poverty, conflict, or violence, and exported new strategies to respond to these issues via heightened surveillance and coercive control. I connect this discussion to the evolving contributions of the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice to the field of policing in the United States.

Author

• Eeron Wilson, Rutgers University - Newark