Do Broken Windows 
Encourage Criminality？

The broken windows theory is a kind of criminology theory, which thinks that such behaviors as breaking windows, even littering, will have a negative impact on the whole community environment, and even cause crime. The theory has had a significant impact on police policy in the United States. In 1990, the New York City Police Department introduced this theory into police enforcement. Then New York City Police Commissioner Bratton introduced his Broken Windows-based Quality of Life Initiative between 1994 and 1996. New York's felony rate dropped by nearly 40 percent within those two years, and the homicide rate dropped by half. In the past, the New York City Police Department and the community attributed the decline in crime to broken windows policing, which believes that stopping, questioning, and frisking the perpetrators of minor crimes such as disturbing public order will help to reduce the occurrence of felonies. However, in recent years, many skeptical voices have emerged. Critics argue that broken windows policing may not be directly responsible for the drop-in crime rates. There is no evidence that disorderly conduct leads to crime.  

Therefore, the goal of this research would be to verify whether the broken windows theory actually causes the crime rate to increase by using New York City crime incident data and disorderly incident data to further discuss whether broken window policing is effective or not. This project aims to improve the New York police policy-making and arrangement by justifying the significant level of the broken windows theory in New York City. By analyzing the regionality differences in New York City, seasonality change, and various kinds of crime and disorder behavior, this research set the purpose which is to dig deeper and find how the theory reflected differently on different regions and changed with time.