Reading Reaction #1

Willhem Sontay

SO101_Sec11

Professor Brazda

1.) What is the primary argument the author is making? Explain and use

examples.

The author of this article is trying to tell us that we need to protect

neighborhoods that are on vulnerable to becoming infected with crime.

He states that once people stop caring for an area, it welcomes

disorder and therefore there is a propensity for crime to thrive in this

area. He provides the example of broken window as the tipping point

for this to happen. By not taking care of the physical things around us,

it signals that by not repairing that one broken window, it signal that

no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing. This

leads to the destruction of more objects/property, which gives the

illusion of a neighborhood that is not guarded by authority. People will

frequent the streets less often and stay away from these run-down

neighborhoods in fear of being attacked. This leads to a disconnect,

between community members and police. He states that police are not

just there to fight crime, but to prevent it by keeping order. By keeping

order, giving the citizens a sense of safety, and making people take
 part in the upkeep of their neighborhoods, its making these places

stronger and harder for violence and crime to spring up.

2.) What evidence did they use to support this argument? Explain and use

examples.

The first example used looked back at the "Safe and Clean Neighborhoods

Program." This program implemented more foot patrols by police officers,

rather than those done by car patrols. By introducing foot patrols to

neighborhoods, people felt more secure than persons in other areas,

tended to believe that crime had been reduced, and seemed to take fewer

steps to protect themselves from crime. These programs made people

interact with each other, and become part of the order keeping process.

Officers had more contact with the citizens, forming relationships that

allowed them to weed out the people who were causing disorder. This also

gave the people helping a sense of importance and therefore cared more

for the community they were living in, rather than just being the place

they lived at. Another example was that of, Philip Zimbardos experiment.

He placed two cars in totally different communities, and made them look

as if they were abandoned. In one neighborhood the car was torn apart in

less than two days, and the car in Palo Alto was only torn apart after

Zimbardo attacked it with a sledgehammer. But once he did this, the car

was destroyed within hours. The result was the same regardless of the
place the cars were stationed because these two vehicles were seen as

unattended and signaling that no one cared for the cars destruction.

3.)How does this relate to previous readings and or/ chapters in this book?

Explain with examples.

This article relates to the sense of unity people have. Once people

become disconnected from the ones around them, it becomes harder to

make a group feel responsible for the things happening around them. That

is more apparent as technology increases. People become anonymous

and do not have real face to face interactions that might make them form

stronger bonds.