Police Organizations

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U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice

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National Institute of Justice
R e s e a r c h R e p o r t

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IJ J O F OJJ D P B RO J US T I C E P

“Broken Windows” and Police Discretion

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U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs 810 Seventh Street N.W. Washington, DC 20531 Janet Reno Attorney General Raymond C. Fisher Associate Attorney General Laurie Robinson Assistant Attorney General Noël Brennan Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Travis Director, National Institute of Justice Office of Justice Programs World Wide Web Site http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov National Institute of Justice World Wide Web Site http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij

“Broken Windows” and Police Discretion
George L. Kelling Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University Research Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute

October 1999 NCJ 178259

Jeremy Travis Director Steve Edwards Program Monitor

This program was supported under award number 95–IJ–CX–0013 to George L. Kelling by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Findings and conclusions of the research reported here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

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Foreword

The past two decades have seen growing awareness of the complexity of police work, an examination of the use of discretion in officers’ daily policing activities, and a better understanding of the critical role community leaders play in the vitality of