I have written before about the importance, in marketing, of visual impressions. Now comes more evidence, this time from the field of law enforcement. This article in the Boston Globe, entitled Breakthrough on 'broken windows' says that the way a neighborhood looks will have more effect on the crime rate than increased police presence, social services, or any other factor.
"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...
"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 "broken windows" theory really works — that disorderly conditions breed bad behavior, and that fixing them can help prevent crime..."
The bottom line, according to the article?
"Cleaning up the physical environment was very effective; misdemeanor arrests less so, and boosting social services had no apparent impact."
"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...
"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 "broken windows" theory really works — that disorderly conditions breed bad behavior, and that fixing them can help prevent crime..."
The bottom line, according to the article?
"Cleaning up the physical environment was very effective; misdemeanor arrests less so, and boosting social services had no apparent impact."
Wasn't the "broken windows" theory (as popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point) discredited by Steven Levitt in Freakonomics?
Ian
Posted by: Ian Brodie | May 06, 2009 at 10:33 AM