Formal means of crime control through criminal justice agencies alone have proved ineffective, and women have turned to community-oriented policing as an alternative for self-protection. In addition, the women have engaged in a variety of prevention behaviors, which fall generally into three categories: personal, protecting oneself from being victimized; household, protecting one's property against illegal access; and neighborhood, preventing criminality in a geographic community. Women's individual protection behaviors may include: avoiding threatening situations; avoiding risk; risk management; and buying, carrying and using firearms. Household protection behaviors involve both physical barriers to entry (deadbolt locks, fences, alarms), and psychological barriers (security lights burning all night, radio or TV playing) that give the impression of occupancy. This review demonstrates that extreme avoidance behaviors have their own disadvantages, such as a loss of liberty, a lower quality of life, development of a fortress mentality or, in the acquisition of firearms, the possibility of serious injury or death. References