Project Title: Broken Windows: An Investigation of Disorder and Crime in Urban Communities
BASIS Advisor: Dr. Parson
Internship Location: CSAA Insurance Group
Onsite Mentor: Ms. Amy Carlson
The Broken Windows Theory predicts that areas with a greater concentration of disorder result in higher crime rates, especially in “quality-of-life” crimes. Due to this assumption, broken windows policing attempts to decrease fear and crime by reducing the visible manifestations of disorder in a community. Although broken windows policing may seem like a valid solution to crime and violence in urban areas, it may also perpetuate racially centered policing in lower-income communities. Working with the CSAA Insurance Group, this experiment seeks to investigate the difference between observed and perceived disorder, the relationship between disorder and crime, and the effectiveness of broken windows policing by recording the level of visible manifestations of disorder in the Oakland community and comparing this value to secondary data provided by local rights groups and governments. Ultimately, this paper suggests a more effective method of policing for the Oakland community, which may be generalized to similar low-income communities around the nation.
My Posts
Week Twelve – The Research Paper
May 04, 2019
It’s a sad day, as I have finally completed my senior project. I spent this week cutting down my senior project presentation – from 76 to under 30 slides – and writing my research paper. I had a very tough time cutting down my presentation, as I was forced to leave out huge chunks of […]
Week Eleven – Data Analysis
Apr 28, 2019
In my last post, I wrote about the measurements and methods of the data analysis portion of my senior project. There isn’t much to write about this week, as I spent the entire week finishing my neighborhood analysis and creating my senior project presentation. The results of my research will ultimately be revealed in my […]
Week Ten – Neighborhood Analysis
Apr 20, 2019
After spending an entire week performing in-depth statistical comparisons and analyses of tens of neighborhoods in San Francisco and Oakland, I realized that I simply could not feasibly finish all my analysis in one week. My schedule was further constrained by a part-time job that I took on in my area. As a result, I […]
Week Nine – Research in Oakland
Apr 17, 2019
I spent much of week nine of my senior project planning and conducting research in Oakland. I spent most of the day walking around neighborhoods such as Fruitvale and Jingletown recording disorder. My research paper will include more specifics as to what types of data I collected on my trip, as well as the actual […]
Week Eight – Mission District Data Analysis
Apr 16, 2019
In an attempt to save most of my data analysis for my research paper, I will keep this blog post brief. I spent much of week eight of my senior project analyzing crime data in San Francisco’s Mission District. Using my own statistical observations (that I gathered during my trip to the Mission District), as […]
Week Seven – Research in San Francisco (With a Focus on Graffiti)
Apr 09, 2019
I’m back! Week seven of my senior project consisted mostly of planning and data collection. After spending the previous week tracking observable disorder in the Oakland area, I decided to use my time in week seven to investigate disorder (and more specifically – graffiti) in the San Francisco area. Previous research led me to choose […]
Week Six – Data Collection and Google Street View
Mar 27, 2019
I got a significant amount of work done in Week 6. However, since most of my Week 6 work involved planning and the collection of data, I wanted to keep this post rather concise. I will expand on my work in later posts (after I complete the data analysis portion of my project). The majority of […]
Week Five – The Effectiveness of the Broken Windows Theory + Interviews
Mar 20, 2019
Welcome to my blog! This week, I wanted to write a little bit about my research on the effectiveness of the Broken Windows Theory, as well as an interview I conducted with a police lieutenant. Although I have read numerous scholarly articles concerning the validity of the theory itself, I have found two specific articles […]
Week Four – Scholarly Reading, Outreach, and In-Depth Investigation
Mar 17, 2019
Good morning, America (and the unlikely readers from other nations)! It’s been a difficult few weeks since my last post, but I’m back (with many updates). Ultimately, the arduous balancing act that was the fourth week of my senior project research involved the following three categories of work: scholarly reading, outreach, and the in-depth investigation […]
Week Three – Tragedy Strikes
Mar 03, 2019
I experienced a significant family emergency on Monday evening, and as a result, I was not able to work on my Senior Project as much as I would have liked to. Due to the emergency, I had to set aside my research and my trip to Oakland. On Thursday, I traveled to Anaheim for a […]
Week Two – Prior Research!
Feb 26, 2019
As I briefly mentioned in my last post, my family and I drove to Lake Tahoe on Sunday, February 17. To make use of our (rather expensive) season pass, my family spent the week at the Heavenly Ski Resort. As a result, we spent 7 hours each day trekking across the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains. […]
Week One – Consultations and Research
Feb 20, 2019
Good afternoon, America (and the unlikely viewers from other nations)! My name is Rithvik. Welcome to my senior project blog! If you haven’t read about my project already, please do so. For those of you who are too lazy to do so, I have provided a quick synopsis of my project below: As part […]