Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying Broken Windows Policing: The Need for Evaluation Evidence
Abstract
Objectives:
We argue that the model underlying broken windows policing requires a developmental sequence involving reductions in fear of crime and eventual enhancement of community social controls. We investigate whether existing evaluation studies provide evidence on these mechanisms.
Methods:
Drawing from a larger systematic review of disorder policing, we identify six eligible studies. We use narrative review and meta-analytic methods to summarize the impacts of these interventions on fear of crime and collective efficacy (a proxy for community social controls).
Findings:
Disorder policing strategies do not have a significant impact on fear of crime in a meta-analysis of six studies. In the one study measuring collective efficacy, there is also not a significant outcome.
Conclusions:
Existing broken windows policing programs do not show evidence of influencing the key mechanisms of the broken windows model of crime prevention, though evidence is currently not persuasive. We outline four key directions for improving research in this area, namely, (1) explore the mechanisms underlying the model, not just test crime outcomes; (2) use measures of disorder distinct from crime; (3) employ longitudinal designs to better fit the developmental nature of the mechanism; and (4) include observational analyses to examine the complex nature of feedback mechanisms.
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Biographies
David Weisburd is a Distinguished Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University, and Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the Hebrew University. His research has covered a number of areas including policing, crime and place, and white collar crime. He is the 2010 recipient of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology and the 2014 recipient of the Sutherland Award. In 2015 he was awarded the Israel Prize for his work in criminology.
Joshua C. Hinkle is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University. Dr. Hinkle’s research interests include evidence-based policing, the disorder-crime nexus, fear of crime and experimental methods. His research has been funded by the National Institute of Justice and the National Science Foundation and has appeared in journals such as Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, and the Journal of Experimental Criminology.
Anthony A. Braga, PhD, is the Don M. Gottfredson Professor of Evidence-Based Criminology in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University and a Senior Research Fellow in the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard University. His research involves collaborating with criminal justice, social service, and community-based organizations to address illegal access to firearms, reduce gang and group-involved violence, and control crime hot spots.
Alese Wooditch is a doctoral student in the Criminology, Law, and Society Program at George Mason University and a graduate research assistant in the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. Her research interests include experimental criminology, crime and place, quantitative methods, and human trafficking.
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Article first published online: June 4, 2015
Issue published: July 2015
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