Has The "Broken Windows" Theory Of Policing Been More Damaging Than Helpful?
Broken Windows Theory
Wikipedia
Freddie Gray's death raises questions about the broken-windows theory of policing. "The detention and subsequent death of Freddie Gray for the crime of Making Eye Contact While Black is... being seen as the apotheosis — and definitive repudiation — of a once high-flying theory of crime-fighting known as broken-windows or zero-tolerance policing. ... The idea was that minor violations could bring down a neighborhood and so encourage much more serious crime, like the murders and crack cocaine use that were rampant then. Bratton, who is back in New York today as police chief, went after graffiti artists, fare-gate jumpers, public drinkers, squeegee panhandlers and other misdemeanants — and the serious crime rate in New York City went down, too. It’s hard to remember today that this apparent success was seen as a boon not only to the well-heeled of Manhattan but to New York’s poor residents, who were the primary victims both of broken-window squalor and of serious crime." The Washington Post
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