Juvenile Justice: a Study of National Judiciaries for the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders

When Singapore is mentioned in various parts of the world, there are certain predicable responses, often focusing on Singaporean laws or the judicial system. “Oh, the place that makes chewing gum illegal!” or “The country that caned Michael Fey for spraying graffiti!” or “The nation that makes it a crime not to flush a toilet!” However, despite these sometimes amusing though derisive attributions, taking decisive action on minor infractions was subsequently popularized and advocated by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in their 1982 treatise entitled, “broken windows.” Here Wilson and Kelling argued that actually tolerating broken windows will actually result in larger and more extensive crimes. A successful anti-crime strategy is to fix problems when they are still minor. New York City government used much of Wilson’s and Kelling’s theory in “cleaning up” New York streets.