Social safety entails the presence of necessary societal conditions that allow citizens to live their lives and exercise their rights without experiencing or facing threats of harm from other individuals or groups. For the state, social safety implies the duty and responsibility to ensure that these conditions are in place.

The primary source of harm in any state is crime; however, some harmful behaviors might be illegal without being classified as criminal. Social safety involves more than merely punishing crime; it requires the state to implement a broader range of interventions.

These interventions encompass not only policing and law enforcement measures but also the elimination of conditions that could, over time, lead to or exacerbate risks of harm.