The story
After article propounding the theory by social scientists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, “Broken Windows”, Atlantic Monthly (March 1982).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
broken windows theory
Today it means: A criminological theory stating that signs of urban decay (e.g. broken windows, graffiti, loitering) signal that an area is not monitored, encouraging more destructive criminal behavior. Full definition →