I came across a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj9WsGbaNAY explaining the broken windows theory and I just wanted to give my opinion on it. I have to agree to an extent that when your walking in a neighborhood that has been vandalized and corrupt, we do tend to join in with them and maybe throw garbage on the floor instead of in a trash can as we normally would. There is one difference though. I think the broken window theory applies only to young children and teenagers.
Being an adult, I cant imagine that an adult would change the way in which they were raised and are going to quickly adapt to acting like a criminal or not for the lonesome fact that crime is all around us or isnt present at all. Adults have a more conceptual mind and we have certain attributes and learned behavior that is instilled in us from childhood that carry on into our adulthood. I think children and teenagers adapt much more quickly to certain environments than an adult would. If an adult sees another adult get into a street fight, we would automatically call the cops and usually dont like to be involved. A child or teenager would add fuel to the fire and get excited seeing a fight. They would run to the scene and possibly join in even though they normally wouldnt do that.
Therefore, even though we try to change the environment of a bad neighborhood, I dont think criminals would care if the neighborhood was cleaned up and looked pleasant to walk through; its the way people think in their minds and a criminal will still act like a criminal if he or she wants to regardless of their surroundings.
Hey Antonio,
Interesting post. I agree with you that Broken window theory does have some holes in its theory. I dont believe that people are so basic that they will flat out respond to any environment no matter what. For example, if either you or myself were to be placed in a decrepit, crime infested environment, would we really start committing crimes and deviant acts? Broken window theory says yes but I really doubt this.
One problem I have with Broken Window Theory is that it is essentially a theory about how our subconscious forces us to abide by a given environment. It suggests that we feel a need to conform to the group and environment that surrounds us no matter what. If you live in a neighborhood that allows graffiti artists to spray their work on any building walls, graffiti will spread. But will it spread only because of environment, but also because of the social context in which these graffiti artists are placed? I think that economic inequalities, along with socially constructed concepts of crime are just as important in explaining deviance as is broken window theory.
One problem I have with Broken window theory especially is whether or not it would still hold true once people became aware of it. What happens once criminals and deviants, who were supposedly deterred in the past from committing crimes and deviant acts (like spraying graffiti) were suddenly made aware of the fact that their neighborhood was being cleaned up according to the concept of broken windows theory. Would they simply abide by the clean up and stop their actions? I think not. I think if they were made aware of where Broken Windows Theory was being applied, they would counter act it even worse.
Thus, I think the main problem with BWT is that it can face some problems once the theory enters the conscious (and leaves the sub conscious) of the criminal or deviant.