The theory has been used as the basis for several reforms in criminal policy, including the reemphasis upon police foot patrols of neighborhoods and of community policing.
The broken windows theory is supported by several empirical studies. At the same time it has also been subjected to a huge amount of criticism from sociologists and nonsociologists alike. In Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities George L. Kelling and co-author Catharine Cole expand upon the original article develop it in much greater detail. They discuss the theory in relation to crime and strategies that contain or eliminate crime from neighborhoods in urban centers and to explore the community aspects of the problem. A successful strategy for preventing vandalism is therefore to fix the problems when they are small and correctable. If the community repairs...
Clean up the sidewalk every day, and the tendency is for litter not to accumulate. Problems do not escalate, preventing the respectable residents from fleeing a neighborhood. The article deals more with the emphasis upon foot patrols and community policing.
The strength of the article in analyzing the effect of foot patrols and community policing is that it takes a historical approach and looks at the change in public perceptions of crime and disorder. According to the authors of the Atlantic article, the process we call urban decay has occurred for centuries in every city, but what is happening today is different two important ways. First, in the period before World War II, city residents because of money costs, transportation for many could rarely
