Quality-of-Life Policing: Do Offenders Get the Message?

In the 199Os, the New York City Police Department increased patrols and enforcement of laws against quality-of-life [QOL] offenses. Many have heralded this focus as the prime cause for the decline in the City’s crime rate citing the fixing broken windows argument that disorder breeds crime. However, the underlying mechanics of the broken windows paradigm have not yet been systematically explored. This paper assesses one aspect of the broken windows line of reasoning, that QOL policing sends a message to offenders that QOL misbehaviors will not be tolerated.

Responses fiom 539 New York City arrestees interviewed in 1999 indicate that almost all of them were aware that police were targeting various QOL offenses. Among those active in QOL misbehaviors, about half reported that they had seriously cut back or stopped their involvements in the past six month, and about half had not. Those reducing their involvement cited general police presence as the most important factor, suggesting that for them QOL policing had served as a general deterrent. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/196673.pdf