broken window

English

Noun

broken window (plural broken windows)

1. Under broken windows theory, anything that signals an area is unmonitored or unworthy of proper behavior, leading to crime.
   • 1998, William J. Bratton, Peter Knobler, Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic, page 152:

     Fare evasion was the biggest broken window in the transit system.