Zero Tolerance

The term zero tolerance was first used during the 1980s, with special reference to drug usage and dealing near schools. During the 1980s and 1990s, the term's usage in schools broadened to include bullying, violence, and weapons. Zero tolerance first began to be used in reference to policing and other criminal justice agency policies and practices during the 1990s, especially regarding order maintenance policies practiced by the New York City Police Department.

The order maintenance policies in the New York City Police Department during the mid-1990s were explicitly based on the broken windows hypothesis that James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling put forward in their 1982 article in the Atlantic Monthly. Both Rudy Guiliani, then mayor of New York City, and William Bratton, Guiliani's first police commissioner, were outspoken advocates of the broken windows hypothesis. In fact, during Bratton's tenure as chief of the New York City Transit Authority Police during the early 1990s, Bratton first advocated and used the broken windows philosophy to restore order and reduce crime in New York City's subways. When these ideas were applied in the city itself, it was within the context of a range of crime control strategies that specifically predicted double-digit drops in specific crimes, as well as crime in general. Nonetheless, order maintenance was an integral aspect of New York City's crime control efforts.

As is well known, crime did decline dramatically throughout the latter part of the 1990s and into the 21st century in New York City. This decline sparked a debate that continues today: Was the decline in crime the result of police and other community action, or was it the result of broad social factors, such as changing drug use patterns, changes in the economy, or changes in the demographic makeup of New York City? This debate was exacerbated by charges from a variety of interest groups that claimed that the practices of the New York City Police Department might be effective, but only at an unacceptable cost of brutality and harassment.

The purpose of this entry is not to become involved in the debate as to whether the policies and practices of the New York City Police Department significantly contributed to the drop in crime or whether the decline was at an unacceptable cost. Suffice it to say that during this period, zero tolerance became equated with the broken windows hypothesis for many authors and many publications. Clearly, many of them used the concept of zero tolerance derogatorily, implying police zealotry; antagonism to cultural pluralism; and heavy-handed rote, nondiscretionary use of citation and arrest (as against warnings, education, persuasion, etc.).

Complicating the picture, zero tolerance became broadly accepted as a synonym for broken windows in Europe and in South and Central America. In many of these countries, this term was adopted but without the critical innuendo of the phrase as used in the United States. In cities such as Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and others, many officials are perplexed when objections are raised to the use of the term zero tolerance.

...