Arresting a criminal for breaking a law is just, given that the law itself is morally sturdy. Is jumping a turnstile truly immoral? On the one hand, it deleteriously affects the MTA workers whose salary depends on the meager $2.50. On the other hand, many people, who live “in poverty,” may rely on the subway system for day to day needs. The ethical implications of such conundrum may be subject to debate. Personally, I believe that the subway fares are gratuitously exorbitant ($2.50?!) and that many people would favor lower fares. However, the punishments for jumping the turnstiles, are justified in that they reduce future infractions of the same type. Unfortunately, the distribution of punishments for fare evasion is subjective with Asians getting the least jail time (13%) while African Americans bear the brunt of the jail time (36%) compared to other races. After thinking about the statistics offered by Daily News, I hypothesized that perhaps confounding variables were involved. In other words, these statistics don’t account for factors such as financial situation, neighborhood etc.

The term ‘broken windows’ policing was interesting. Based on the context, it meant punishing individuals for a minor crime because of the belief that such crime will lead to a bigger crime. While it is true that minor crimes often increase the tolerance for more serious crimes, it is difficult to truly determine whether fare evasion is a crime in the truest sense. According to Wikipedia, the broken windows theory states that the environment plays a role in determining the behavior of individuals and that prevent minor infractions will lead to a more lawful society. For instance, a person who sees one person jump the turnstile and evade police detection may come to believe that such behavior in that particular location is less likely to be caught, suggesting that the need to conform in urban environments plays a role. According to this theory, I believe that the environment may play a role in determining actions of an individual but it also depends on other factors such as desperation of the individual.

The graphs show the age, race and gender of the people who were arrested because of fare evasion. Apparently, age has the weakest correlation with arrests with about 35% of 21-30 year olds arrested. Race has the second biggest correlation with arrests with a little less that 50% of Blacks being arrested. Gender had the greatest correlation with about 85% of the males being arrested. Perhaps the fact that race is so correlated with arrests is either because more Blacks ride the subway compared to other races or because Blacks may live in a poorer area. The role that gender plays in arrests is astounding. The only reason I can formulate as to such gender disparity is, perhaps, because males have to travel more to get to certain places or because females are much more law abiding. Biological differences may also play a role. Simply put, while the statistics offers correlational evidence, the article doesn’t really explain why these statistics are this way. Why are males more likely to jump turnstiles? Why are Blacks more likely to jump turnstiles?