Double meaning – The “broken windows theory” vs. the “broken windows fallacy”

By Tomas Castelazo – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

 

Two influential ideas from the social sciences.  A theory and a fallacy.  With the same name.

The broken windows theory was first introduced by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982.  The idea is that small signs of disorder in a community — like broken windows — can increase the sense of lawlessness and lead to more serious crimes.  Police leaders in the 1990’s and 2000’s used this theory to justify a crackdown on lots of small offense...