Broken Windows revisited
Modern Policing owes a lot to the idea of Broken Windows theory, in this ToE we examine the roots of where this idea came from and the individuals who pushed it.
We revisit CRIME FILES a Police Foundation TV show from the 80s to better understand where Broken Windows comes from. PLUS 30 years ago falling glass from a Trump Tower window struck and killed one of two pedestrians. We go looking for the one who survived.
Crime Files
In 1982, the Police Foundation created a TV show with Broken Windows policing creator James Q. WIlson in the host chair. Here we can see the underlying principles of the theory of policing that dominates today.
White Collar Crime
The following year, Donald Trump killed a man on the street with glass from his tower. A nearby woman was merely injured. Almost 40 years later… does Trump finish the job?
One comment on “Broken Windows revisited”
This episode brought back memories and made connections – but not happy ones.
Around 1980, I took took a course taught by Jame Q. “lock ’em up” Wilson & Richer Herrnstein. I think it was called “Crime and Human Nature”.
To get a decent grade, I wrote a final paper that echoed what they wanted to hear. Some people today say that liberals silence conservative voices – as if they are the only ones doing that. To be fair and balanced, fascists are equally good at silencing those who don’t reflect their world view.
At the time, I probably just dismissed them as a pair of cranks. I certainly never gave them any more thought, or much thought to public policy in general for most of my adult life. I was occupied with work and family, and, as an upper middle class white guy with a Harvard degree, pretty good. Your ToE episode filled my knowledge gap about the damage they did to society. Thanks for doing that.