Broken Windows Crime Theory
It’s called the "broken windows" theory and it says that in a neighborhood where buildings have broken windows, people are more likely to engage in bad behavior. Maybe because they figure no one will care. Or there’s little chance they’ll get caught. The idea has been embraced by people in law enforcement—crack down on petty crime and you’ll also put a halt to more serious offenses. New York City, for example, used the logic to justify a “zero tolerance” approach to things like the squeegeeing of car windows. But the theory has been hard to prove. Crime did go down in New York, but was it directly related to the squeegee decline?
Now Dutch scientists say that there may be something to the whole “broken windows” thing, after all. For example, they found that cyclists who parked their bikes near a wall covered in graffiti were twice as likely to litter than people who parked near the same wall after it was painted clean. The results were published online by the journal Science on November 20th. I guess we should be thankful that the cyclists’ bad behavior stopped at littering. And they didn’t decide to, say, swipe a better set of wheels for the ride home.
破窗犯罪理論
“破窗”犯罪理論是說在一個(gè)小區(qū)里面，如果建筑物的窗子被打破了，人們更易于從事不良行為?？赡苁撬麄兿敕凑龥]有人在乎?；蛘咚麄兿胨麄儽蛔プ〉目赡苄院苄 ＿@個(gè)理論受到執(zhí)法人員的支持——對小的犯罪行為實(shí)施打擊的話，那些更加嚴(yán)重的犯罪就會(huì)得到遏制。紐約市就曾以這個(gè)邏輯為依據(jù)對一些不良行為實(shí)施“零容忍”， 比如在車道上招攬生意，為司機(jī)清洗車窗的行為。但是這個(gè)理論很難被證明。在紐約，犯罪率確實(shí)下降了，但是這直接和“車道上擦汽車玻璃”下降相關(guān)嗎?
目前荷蘭科學(xué)家們報(bào)道說，對整個(gè)“破窗”理論而言，畢竟還是有可取之處的。比如，科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)騎自行車的人把車停放在亂涂亂畫的墻壁附近的時(shí)候，相比于那些把車停放在粉刷干凈后的墻壁（同一面墻壁）附近的人，他們亂扔垃圾的的可能性要提高一倍。這個(gè)研究結(jié)果在線發(fā)表于11月20日的《科學(xué)》雜志（Science）。我想我們應(yīng)該對這些騎自行車人不再亂扔垃圾表示感謝。同時(shí)，我們也應(yīng)該感謝他們沒有決定，比如說去偷一輛更好的自行車騎回家。
Vocabulary:
Embrace: 支持；擁護(hù)
Enforcement: （法律的）執(zhí)行
Petty: 小的；無不足道的
Halt: 終止；停止
Justify: 使…合理
Squeegee: 橡皮掃帚（主要用于擦洗窗戶）
Cyclist: 騎自行車的人
Graffiti: 墻上亂涂亂畫的東西
Litter: 亂丟垃圾
Swipe: 偷盜
It’s called the "broken windows" theory and it says that in a neighborhood where buildings have broken windows, people are more likely to engage in bad behavior. Maybe because they figure no one will care. Or there’s little chance they’ll get caught. The idea has been embraced by people in law enforcement—crack down on petty crime and you’ll also put a halt to more serious offenses. New York City, for example, used the logic to justify a “zero tolerance” approach to things like the squeegeeing of car windows. But the theory has been hard to prove. Crime did go down in New York, but was it directly related to the squeegee decline?
Now Dutch scientists say that there may be something to the whole “broken windows” thing, after all. For example, they found that cyclists who parked their bikes near a wall covered in graffiti were twice as likely to litter than people who parked near the same wall after it was painted clean. The results were published online by the journal Science on November 20th. I guess we should be thankful that the cyclists’ bad behavior stopped at littering. And they didn’t decide to, say, swipe a better set of wheels for the ride home.
破窗犯罪理論
“破窗”犯罪理論是說在一個(gè)小區(qū)里面，如果建筑物的窗子被打破了，人們更易于從事不良行為?？赡苁撬麄兿敕凑龥]有人在乎?；蛘咚麄兿胨麄儽蛔プ〉目赡苄院苄 ＿@個(gè)理論受到執(zhí)法人員的支持——對小的犯罪行為實(shí)施打擊的話，那些更加嚴(yán)重的犯罪就會(huì)得到遏制。紐約市就曾以這個(gè)邏輯為依據(jù)對一些不良行為實(shí)施“零容忍”， 比如在車道上招攬生意，為司機(jī)清洗車窗的行為。但是這個(gè)理論很難被證明。在紐約，犯罪率確實(shí)下降了，但是這直接和“車道上擦汽車玻璃”下降相關(guān)嗎?
目前荷蘭科學(xué)家們報(bào)道說，對整個(gè)“破窗”理論而言，畢竟還是有可取之處的。比如，科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)騎自行車的人把車停放在亂涂亂畫的墻壁附近的時(shí)候，相比于那些把車停放在粉刷干凈后的墻壁（同一面墻壁）附近的人，他們亂扔垃圾的的可能性要提高一倍。這個(gè)研究結(jié)果在線發(fā)表于11月20日的《科學(xué)》雜志（Science）。我想我們應(yīng)該對這些騎自行車人不再亂扔垃圾表示感謝。同時(shí)，我們也應(yīng)該感謝他們沒有決定，比如說去偷一輛更好的自行車騎回家。
Vocabulary:
Embrace: 支持；擁護(hù)
Enforcement: （法律的）執(zhí)行
Petty: 小的；無不足道的
Halt: 終止；停止
Justify: 使…合理
Squeegee: 橡皮掃帚（主要用于擦洗窗戶）
Cyclist: 騎自行車的人
Graffiti: 墻上亂涂亂畫的東西
Litter: 亂丟垃圾
Swipe: 偷盜