psychology : crime prevention - key study wilson and kelling

aim

describing features of neighbourhoods that could be linked to higher crime rates and to see what can be done to prevent crime

research method

was a review article

3 sections of the review article

• review of the Newark foot patrol experiment

• evidence for the broken windows theory

• implications for policing and crime prevention

section 1 - review of the Newark foot patrol experiment

• investigate the effect of having more officers on the beat

• was hypothesised that this would reduce anti social behaviour by the consistent presence of police and ultimately lead to a reduction in crime

• all low-level crimes were tackled and rules introduced e.g. no drinking on the streets

• after 5 years there was no noticeable reduction in crime

• but residents reported feeling safer and they thought crime had reduced

• also reported better relationships with police and a sense of protection

• foot patrol officers reported high job satisfaction

• concluded that preventive policing such as this is more effective than reactive policing to maintain order

section 2 - evidence of broken windows theory

• suggests that disorderly neighbourhoods lead to serious crimes

• residents less likely to spend time in public places

• wilson and kelling suggested that community policing is essential in areas of high disorder to bring the community together and reduce crime rates overall

• zimbardo (1969) demonstrated this by abandoning a car in 2 different neighbourhoods - one nice and one not

• within 10 minutes in the bronx the car was vandalised and parts were stolen

• whereas in the nice area the car was left untouched for a week

• zimbardo then smashed a window in the car in the nice neighbourhood and the residents started joining in

• this shows that small disorder will lead to more so provides evidence for broken windows theory

section 3 - implications for policing and crime prevention

• wilson and kelling suggested that before ww2 police were watchmen and their job was to prevent crime from happening

• however nowadays the emphasis has shifted to collecting evidence and solving crimes

• this has had a negative effect on the community relationship with the police

• sense of reduced protection within the community

• in turn disorder and crime has increased

• also residents could take on more of a role in raising activity - residents could patrol streets and challenge disorder

conclusions

• the relationship between low level and serious crime can be understood using the broken windows metaphor

• public order should be created and maintained collaboratively by both police (specifically foot patrol) and the community

recommendations for policing and crime prevention

• more police on foot patrol

• tackle all anti social behaviour

• rebuild community relation to tackle the fear of crime

• encourage residents to take on more of a role in raising civility and concentrate on high crime areas first

nature / nurture

• argues nurture

• criminal behaviour could be as a result of upbringing

sample and generalisation

• wasn’t one specific sample used

• however the reviews they looked at were over larger areas

• was ethnocentric

type of data

• quantitative data - crime stats

• qualitative data - police and residents feelings recorded

research method evaluation

• review article

• so lots of data evaluated

reliability

• high internal as large data set

• low external as can’t replicate

validity

• low internal as proved their own theory so could be researcher bias effects

• high ecological as done in natural environment

ethics

• was ethical

• no deception and were protected from harm

• however the people in the studies (e.g. in zimbardo’s study) might not have known they were in a study so can’t give informed consent

individual / situational

• situational

• explains criminal behaviour as a result of our environment

• doesn’t account for any individual differences / characteristics

freewill / determinism

• deterministic

• argues that criminal behaviour is pre determined by environment

reductionism / holism

• reductionist

• only takes environmental factors into account

• no other factors such as individual differences taken into account