Crime prevention in Japan orchestration, representation and impact of a volunteering boom

The crime prevention volunteering boom has been largely conceptualized and orchestrated by the Japanese police in close cooperation with the local government and neighborhood associations. Volunteers' activities are as a result informed and influenced by criminological theories, concepts and research, while also embedded in more general (local) government “town building” efforts aimed at creating a living environment in which people can lead healthy lives while feeling safe and secure. Volunteers phrased their motivation in terms of both such town building idea(l)s and the threat of crime. They represented crime as existing outside of the neighborhood, and as both effectively impacted by volunteering activities and immutably threatening. While the impact of volunteering activities on crime rates is difficult to assess, these activities in any case provide opportunities for increased social interaction and physical activity, while also resulting in spaces in which the neighborhood's eyes are always watching.