What has been the influence of James Q. Wilson and the theory of “broken windows” on fighting crime?
CHRISTOPHER DEMUTH: Well, the answer is Mayor Giuliani. When he came to office in New York City the conventional, indeed almost universal wisdom was that the problems of crime, public disorder in the streets of New York City could not be solved – coped with a little bit at the margin, but not fundamentally changed. The only ray of hope was James Q. Wilson’s work, which is now called “Broken Windows”, which emphasized that if one does little things right in improving public decorum, that that can have a very deep influence on larger problems, such as outright violence, personal crime, property crime. And Mayor Giuliani began with smaller symbolic things: going after loiterers and the squeegee men at the entrances to the tunnel. Cleaning up Times Square, moving the pornography out of Times Square. And the result has been a tremendous revival in the life of the city. Good old fashion police work has also made a difference on rates of violent crime in the city, but I think no one doubts th
