Crime prevention and community safety: From realspace to cyberspace

This Essay describes how attention to crime prevention and community safety in real space can be applied to target cybercrime. Following an introduction to real space and cyberspace, this Essay outlines the essential characteristics of crime prevention and community safety in real space. Particular attention is focused on community surveillance and citizen watch programs. Also discussed are the relevance of increasing opportunities for public surveillance; the importance of community building and social norms; and the participation of the state in preventing crime and fostering community security. These principles are then applied to cyberspace. Many of the outlined crime prevention strategies are not easily applied to cyberspace because they create a number of important architectural and legal concerns. However, in the same manner as real space, the achievement of safety in cyberspace largely depends upon the success of community policing and public surveillance.