Homeless people have taken over the bus terminal in Akademichesky (PHOTO)

      Homeless people have taken over the bus stop in Akademichesky (PHOTO)

      Today at 14:30

      The bus stop on Akademika Landau Street, in the Akademichesky district of Yekaterinburg, is rapidly turning into a dump. An anonymous subscriber reported this on the Telegram public Zloy_Ekb 18+.

      "Trash, dirt, homeless people have already appeared," — wrote the local resident. He posted photos showing littered asphalt, a trash-overflowed bin, and a homeless man peacefully sleeping on a bench under a canopy.

      It is evident that the socially marginalized man felt in his familiar environment in this place, where it is already dirty without him, and where no one will bother him.

      What he saw confirms the famous broken windows theory, which states that a single violation, such as accumulated trash at a stop, encourages others to act destructively — for example, to break it altogether.

      “The broken windows theory is a criminological theory proposed by James Wilson and George Kelling in 1982. It asserts that minor offenses, such as vandalism, street litter, and other signs of disorder, can lead to an increase in more serious crimes.

      If in a public place, like a street or an entrance hall, there are signs of neglect and disorder (for example, broken windows, trash, graffiti), it creates the impression that no one is watching the area. This, in turn, may encourage people to commit more serious offenses, as they see that others are allowed to break the rules without consequences.

      Imagine a building with one broken window. If this window is not repaired, over time, other windows are likely to be broken as well. People seeing disorder will think that nobody cares about maintaining order here, and they may feel it’s permissible to violate rules too,” the AI’s summary states.