Zero Tolerance

Zero tolerance is a perception used by various neighborhood and state police agencies. It allows officers to impose the law as firm as they see fit. Although this is a relatively effective way of deterring trivial crime, it is vulnerable to exploitation and dishonesty (Racism, discrimination, abuse of authority etc) by officers. Zero tolerance is used as a disguise to veil officer’s prejudice and give them a free pass to hassle citizens (Isaac). Even though it is true “the law is the law” the law was fashioned to shelter, provide, and preserve order not to pester. Contrary to fashionable rhetoric, zero tolerance policing is not the preeminent method to implement the law. According to absolute astronomy.com, Zero tolerance is a concept where people in positions of authority have to make decisions based on a set precedent; they are not allowed to use tact no matter the severity of the circumstances. This concept was formulated just about 1994 and was primarily founded on the basis of the broken window theory of crime; the broken window theory states that if a building has a few busted windows and they are not fixed instantaneously then vandals will ultimately bust a few more windows until there are no windows to bust and the alternative is to repair the few busted windows prior to the vandals braking anymore (fix the problem while it’s small scale) (absolute astronomy).


      Policing increases consciousness of police presence because there are extra officers patrolling (Isaac). With additional officers, patrolling it becomes harder for criminals to elude exposure. This allows police the opportunity to put a chokehold on crime by sorting out the lesser ranked criminals who cannot come up with the money to coat their criminal’s activities. Furthermore with the lower level offenders off the streets it makes it tough for crime to flourish. For instance if large crime syndicates such as the Gotti Boys did not have less important position criminals to take the blame... [continues]

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