Breaking windows

"I've been reading about 'broken window' strategies on youth crime. Broken window theory is that one broken window changes the image of an area very quickly - not only does one broken window unheeded attract others, it creates a run down atmosphere and gives a negative perception of an area that far exceeds the true situation. Wilson and Kelling came up with the theory in 1982 and the definition is: "Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there." It's being used as a philosophy for youth work, that small anti-social problems create big perception problems and the situation becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. What interests me about it is that the young people themselves develop an over-negative sense of their own area through the a few unheeded acts of anti social behaviour, even if they know the perpetrators and know, rationally, the scale of the problem in reality.