James Q. Wilson

James Q. Wilson
Born May 27, 1931
Denver, Colorado
Died March 2, 2012 (aged 80)
Boston, Massachusetts
Residence United States
Nationality American
Fields Political science
Public administration
Sociology
Institutions Boston College
Harvard University (1961–1987)
UCLA Anderson School of Management at UCLA (1987–1997)
Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy (1998–2009)
the White House Task Force on Crime (1966)
National Advisory Commission on Drug Abuse Prevention (1972–73)
Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime (1981)
the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1985–90)
President's Council on Bioethics
American Political Science Association
the New England Electric System (now National Grid USA)
Protection One
RAND
State Farm Mutual Insurance
American Enterprise Institute
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Philosophical Society
Human Rights Foundation
Alma mater University of Redlands
University of Chicago
Known for Broken windows theory
Notable awards Lifetime Achievement Award, American Political Science Association
Presidential Medal of Freedom

James Quinn Wilson (May 27, 1931 – March 2, 2012) was an American academic, political scientist, and an authority on public administration. Most of his career was spent as a professor at UCLA and Harvard. He coauthored a leading university textbook on American government, as well as many scholarly books and articles, and op-ed essays. He gained national attention for a 1982 article introducing the broken windows theory. Wilson served on many national committees and boards, and was elected president of the American Political Science Association.

Career

James Wilson completed his B.A. at the University of Redlands in 1952, where he was the national collegiate debate champion in 1951 and 1952. He completed an M.A. (1957) and a Ph.D. (1959) in political science at the University of Chicago. From 1961 to 1987, he was the Shattuck Professor of Government at Harvard University.

His 1975 book Thinking About Crime put forward a novel theory of incapacitation as the most effective explanation for the reduction in crime rates observed where longer prison sentences were the norm. Criminals might not be deterred by the threat of longer sentences, but repeat offenders would be prevented from further offending, simply because they would be in jail rather than out on the street. [1]

The broken windows theory was first introduced by social scientists Wilson and George L. Kelling, in an article titled "Broken Windows" and which appeared in the March 1982 edition of The Atlantic Monthly.[2]

From 1987 until 1997, he was the James Collins Professor of Management and Public Policy at the UCLA Anderson School of Management at UCLA. From 1998 to 2009, he was the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy.[3][4]

Wilson's university text American Government (now coauthored with John J. DiIulio, Jr.) is widely sold. The Amazon Best Sellers Rank of his text was 386,812 on April 19, 2012.

Business positions

Wilson was a former chairman of the White House Task Force on Crime (1966), of the National Advisory Commission on Drug Abuse Prevention (1972–73) and a member of the Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime (1981), the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1985–90), and the President's Council on Bioethics. He was a former president of the American Political Science Association. He served on the board of directors for the New England Electric System (now National Grid USA), Protection One, RAND, and State Farm Mutual Insurance.

He was the chairman of the Council of Academic Advisors of the American Enterprise Institute. Wilson was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the International Council of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation.

Political views

Although as a young professor he "voted for John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey and worked in the last's presidential campaign", [5] Wilson was later recognized as a leading conservative scholar, as indicated by his advisory position to the American Enterprise Institute.

Wilson was a staunch advocate for perseverance in the US War on Drugs, saying,

Even now, when the dangers of drug use are well understood, many educated people still discuss the drug problem in almost every way except the right way. They talk about the "costs" of drug use and the "socioeconomic factors" that shape that use. They rarely speak plainly—drug use is wrong because it's immoral and it is immoral because it enslaves the mind and destroys the soul.[6]

Awards

Death

On March 2, 2012, Wilson died in Boston, Massachusetts from complications due to leukemia.[7]

Books

See also

References

  1. ↑ John D. Lofton, Jr. (14 April 1975). "The case for jailing crooks". The Telegraph-Herald. p. 4.
  2. ↑ James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. "BROKEN WINDOWS: The police and neighborhood safety" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-09-03. (HTML version)
  3. ↑ http://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/default.htm?faculty=james_wilson
  4. ↑ "Center Announces James Q. Wilson as First Clough Senior Fellow" (PDF). The Clough Center Report (The Gloria L. and Charles I. Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, Boston College Department of Political Science). Fall 2009. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
  5. ↑ Wilson, James Q. (September 21, 2009). "A Life in the Public Interest". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. ↑ Quoted in W. J. Bennett, Body Count (New York: 1996), pp. 140-141
  7. ↑ Woo, Elaine (March 3, 2012). "James Q. Wilson dies at 80; pioneer in 'broken windows' approach to improve policing". The Los Angeles Times. ()
  8. ↑ "James Q. Wilson". The Economist. 10 March 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012.

External links