The introduction of the socialist self-management system n Yugoslavia in the mid-1950's began an evolution in social defense. In 1973, the Federal Assembly passed a resolution for the realization of social self-protection under the self-management system. This resolution was the basis for the constitutional regulation of social self- protection and for laws on social self-protection that were passed by all the Republics and Autonomous Provinces soon after the declaration of the 1973 Constitution. At the center of this system was the individual, who could use measures necessary for self-protection. Individuals could also work through organizations to report incidents to social or governmental bodies, propose related protective measures, and receive responses on these proposals. The most important individual right was to participate in decisionmaking processes related to social self-protection. This paper describes the various community-based organizations that had functions related to social self- protection. The Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research in Belgrade evaluated the effectiveness of the social self-protection system in 1979 and 1980. This pilot study was thus conducted only a few years after the system had begun operating and covered six cities of Serbia. Overall, the system's implementation was uneven from community to community, and citizen and organizational motivation to participate in self-protection activities and decisionmaking was law. Similar results were found in a 1987 study.