To avoid becoming a victim, you need to take charge of your own safety. There are no guarantees, but actively tuning your thoughts and actions toward crime prevention and self-defense can help lower chances of becoming a casualty.
"There's a saying in the martial arts world that the best form of self-defense is not putting yourself in a position where you have to defend yourself," says Bill Nelson, a sixth-degree black belt master instructor in Soo Bahk Do Karate, and author of Your Weapon Within: How to Lower the Risk of Sexual Assault. "We all have a responsibility to be safe."
WebMD has compiled expert advice to show you how to avoid dangerous situations and how to defend yourself once you're in them. If you regularly practice the recommended ways of thinking and acting, there is hope that you will not become a victim, but rather, an active defender of your life and property.