soci 2500 Week 12 Assignment 1

soci 2500 Week 12 Assignment 1 | Tulane University

Discussion Section Assignment: Organizational Power and Control and Institutional…

Broken Windows Theory and Broken Windows Policing

1.      Describe the “broken windows” theory: What is it? Explain.

2.      What is “broken windows” policing?

3.      What have been the consequences of “broken windows” policing? Has it been effective (according the articles)?

Broken Windows and Newark, NJ, Today

1.      Now thinking of Newark today (as portrayed in Policing the Police), and answer the following:

a.       In the film, the issue of “trust” is consistently brought up—trust between the community/public and police. What does this mean? Who should trust whom? Whose responsibility is it to foster and maintain trust—the police/police officers or the public/community? Should the community conform to policing? Or should policing conform to the community? Explain.

b.      Instead of “broken windows” (e.g., street-level disorder involving the physical deterioration and destruction of neighborhoods), have other types of behaviors or conditions (e.g., drug and alcohol use, drug dealing, loitering/vagrancy) become placeholders for broken windows? Do the Newark PD policing tactics seem to be similar to “broken windows” policing? Or is there another explanation for the tactics of Newark PD? Explain.

c.       Should police officers be able to violate the constitutional rights of individuals for the greater good of the community (e.g., stopping crime or getting guns off the streets)? Is there any evidence that violating these rights reduces crime?

d.      Can police officers—many of whom are themselves people of color (and often were born and/or grew up in the communities in which they work)—be racist (e.g., overt racism, coded racism, or institutional racism) in their handling of their interactions with other people of color in their duties as police officers (e.g., racial profiling)? Why (or why not)?