Compare methods

	Broken Windows Assessment	Routine Activity Theory
Field	Criminology	Criminology
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1982	1979
Originator	James Q. Wilson & George L. Kelling	Lawrence E. Cohen & Marcus Felson
Type	Observational disorder measurement tied to a crime theory	Theoretical framework for explaining the occurrence of predatory crime
Seminal source	Wilson, J. Q., & Kelling, G. L. (1982). Broken windows: The police and neighborhood safety. The Atlantic Monthly, 249(3), 29–38.	Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44(4), 588–608.
Aliases	Broken Windows Disorder Audit, Physical Disorder Assessment, Systematic Social Observation of Disorder, Neighborhood Disorder Audit	RAT, Routine Activities Approach, Crime Triangle Framework, Cohen-Felson Theory
Related	4	4
Summary	Broken windows assessment is the systematic measurement of physical and social disorder — graffiti, litter, broken windows, public drinking, loitering — tied to the hypothesis that visible disorder signals that no one is in control and thereby invites further crime. Stated by Wilson and Kelling in 1982 and put on a rigorous empirical footing by Sampson and Raudenbush's systematic social observation, it turns the metaphor of an unrepaired broken window into a quantified, reliable neighborhood scale.	Routine activity theory explains predatory crime not by the supply of motivated offenders but by the everyday structure of legal activities that brings offenders, targets, and the absence of guardians together in space and time. Proposed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson in 1979, it argues that crime rates can rise even when offender motivation is constant, because changes in how people work, shop, and spend leisure time alter the opportunities for crime.