Wilson and Kelling

• What was the aim (Wilson&Kelling)?

  To challenge existing beliefs about the fear of crime and the role of the police in a discussion piece

  Also to explore the links between disorders to occurrences of crime in communities
• What was section 1?

  Safer neighbourhoods
• What was looked at in Section 1: Part 1(Wilson&Kelling)?

  Zimbardo's study

  • Z placed a car without license plates in the Bronx and in Palo Alto California
  • In the Bronx the car was destroyed and vandalised quickly
  • In California the car was untouched until Zimbardo himself smashed and a few hours after that the car was vandalised
  • Z concluded that all residential areas are vulnerable to crime where there was a community breakdown
• What was looked at in section 1: Part 2(Wilson&Kelling)?

  Newark Foot Patrol experiment

  • More police officers were out on the streets of Newark
  • This made people feel safer and that crime was reduced
  • BUT statistics showed that crime in actuality was not reduced
• What was looked at in section 1: Part 3(Wilson&Kelling)?

  Broken windows theory

  • believed disorderly neighbourhood leads to serious crime
  • This is because disorder leads to fear in communities which causes people to isolate themselves so are less concerned with what happens in the community which leads to petty crime which turns into serious crime
• What was section 2 (Wilson&Kelling)?


  Changing role of the police
• What was looked at in section 2(Wilson&Kelling)?

  W+K found that police are becoming "crime fighters" which changed their focus away from community relations

  W+K found that officers should be assigned to communities where they can make a difference

  Maintenance of order is the police's most important role
• What was section 3(Wilson&Kelling)?

  Maintaining order
• What was looked at in section 3(Wilson&Kelling)?

  Police should protect communities as well as individuals

  Police should recognise the importance of maintaining intact communities without broken windows
• What were the conclusions(Wilson&Kelling)?

  The relationship between low-level and serious crime can be understood by the broken windows theory

  Public order should be created and maintained collaboratively by the police and the community