Broken Windows--Not all they're cracked up to be (food for your Inner Nerd)

[NYC_SKP]

1. Will be published next month, I look forward to it. And, here's a link:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-06/sp-ici060115.php

"Private conflict and public violence are likely to increase in severity over time, leading to the more consistent use of guns," commented O'Brien and Sampson. "Notably, this progression has been largely invisible to previous work because its primary antecedents occur behind closed doors, out of view of many measurement techniques."

The researchers speculated that people facing stressful conflicts with others may respond violently to issues within their community, neglect private property, and be less inclined to take a stand against neighborhood decline. Such examples of external disorder may also stress individuals in the community, intensifying conflicts within private lives.

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This study, "Public and private spheres of neighborhood disorder: Assessing pathways to violence using large-scale digital record", is featured in a special issue of Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, dedicated to the Broken Window Theory. For an embargoed copy of the article's full text, please email [e-mail].

Mike Maxfield, Editor, JRCD, commented, "The impact of "Broken Windows" on police practice and research cannot be overstated. Virtually every police officer, criminologist, big-city mayor, and journalist has some degree of familiarity with the concept. Increased attention to policing practices often points to the role of broken windows in crime control and police practice."