The Irony of Broken Windows: The Relationship Between Disorder, Focused Police Crackdowns and Fear of Crime.

Broken Windows policing has become one of the most important innovations in policing. It is based on a hypothesis regarding the relationships between fear of crime, disorder and more serious crime first brought by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. They argued that disorder causes fear of crime to increase in a community, starting a chain of events that eventually leads to more serious crime and community decline. This study aims to improve our knowledge of the relationship between disorder and fear of crime in the context of the broken windows hypothesis by using a micro-level research design. This paper used data collected during a study of displacement and diffusion in Jersey City, New Jersey. The results of the current study suggest that perceived social disorder and observed levels of physical disorder have a strong impact on fear of crime. Living on a street segment at the maximum level of disorder corresponded to having a much higher probability of feeling unsafe than a segment at the minimum level of disorder. This suggests that the relationship between disorder and fear hypothesized by the broken windows literature may exist, and that police may be able to reduce fear of crime by reducing disorder. However, it was also found that the police intervention itself increased the probability of feeling unsafe. Thus any fear reduction benefits resulting from focused police crackdowns on disorder and minor crime may be at least partially offset by the extra police presence itself causing residents to become more fearful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]