Included in this assessment are citizen actions to protect themselves, their property, and their neighborhood, as well as efforts to prevent crime through changes in the physical environment and through innovations in community policing. The historical, theoretical, and empirical rationale for community crime prevention strategies are discussed, but primary attention is given to the results of evaluation research in the field. Although community-based efforts are supported widely by theory, studies of natural covariation, and by numerous poorly designed evaluations, there is a paucity of strong demonstrations and evaluations showing that such interventions can alter the behavior and local environments of persons who are not already predisposed to crime prevention. Substantially more research is needed to determine the collective benefits or community crime prevention strategies, but a number of promising approaches currently are being developed. (Publisher abstract)