Prior to the development of theories focused on the lack of civil order in communities, law enforcement tended to focus more on serious crimes. The police force, for example, would deal with those crimes considered more serious and consequential for the victim, such as rape, murder, robbery and so on. However, the broken windows theory, which was an academic proposal by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982, had a different view. This theory postulated that violent crime was a consequence of a long chain of events. According to theorists, the crime occurred due to disorder and if disorder were eliminated it would significantly reduce the rate of serious crimes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Furthermore, the theory assumes that the existence of unrest in society instills fear in the minds of citizens who are usually convinced that their neighborhoods are generally unsafe. Withdrawal from the community ends up eliminating the social control that previously kept crime under control. Disorder, therefore, leads to crime, and crime results in more crime and more disorder. Research shows that there are two types of disorder that can cause crime in society; physical disorder and social disorder. Physical disorder is evidenced by empty buildings, broken windows, abandoned vehicles and dirty streets. Social disorder, on the other hand, is evidenced by practices such as noisy neighborhoods and groups of young people congregating on street corners. There is a fragile line between crime and disorder because some experts classify acts such as drug dealing and prostitution as a disorder while others classify them as crimes. The broken windows theory is considered an effective crime control strategy. This is mainly due to the fact that it is much easier to control disorder than to deal with the greater evil, which is caused by serious crimes. A practical example of broken window surveillance occurred in New York City in the 1990s. The policing strategy used involved police focusing on minor crimes such as jumping over turnstiles on highways and smoking marijuana in public. This strategic policing approach has been remarkably successful as the city has seen a significant drop in its crime rate. However, crime has also generally fallen in the United States, even in areas where this policing strategy has not been adopted. This, therefore, has led to controversy over the positive and negative aspects of this law enforcement approach. Benefits of using broken windows theory include reduced crime rates and data-driven approaches. Addressing small problems usually helps reduce the crime rate in society, as demonstrated by the New York case study. Additionally, some criminals who are typically arrested for minor crimes end up being wanted for more significant crimes they have committed. This leads to the conclusion that, indeed, eliminating disorder in the community has a positive impact in terms of reducing the crime rate in neighborhoods. This theory has also led to statistically driven approaches to crime prevention. Many police departments now allocate funds for the broken windows approach to crime prevention. In this approach, police officers usually use available data in addition to what they observe along the streets to prevent crimes rather than face the larger problem of controlling them once they have become.