Brief history of CPTED CPTED has its origins in the 1960s and 1970s, when several researchers and practitioners in the United States and Canada began to investigate the relationship between the built environment and crime. One of the early pioneers of CPTED was Oscar Newman, an architect and criminologist, who in 1972 published the book “Defensible Space”, which argued that the design of residential buildings and neighborhoods could influence the level of crime and disorder. Another influential figure was C. Ray Jeffery, a criminologist who developed the concept of “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design” in the late 1970s as part of his work on situational crime prevention. Since then, CPTED has been widely adopted by planners, architects, law enforcement officials, and community organizations as a means of improving public safety and preventing crime. CPTED has also been incorporated into various policies and guidelines at the local, state, and federal levels, including the National Crime Prevention Council’s “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Guidelines” and the U.S. Department of Justice’s “CPTED: The Basics”. Today, CPTED continues to evolve and adapt to new challenges and opportunities, such as the growing use of technology in urban design and the need to address issues of social and environmental sustainability. Importance of CPTED in modern criminal justice CPTED is an important approach in modern criminal justice because it provides a proactive and preventive strategy for reducing crime and enhancing public safety. Traditional approaches to crime control, such as increased policing and incarceration, have been criticized for their limited effectiveness and high costs. CPTED offers an alternative by focusing on the physical and social environments in which crime occurs, and by using design and management strategies to create safer and more livable communities.