United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Central America and the Caribbean

Tools and Publications

UNODC develops tools for stakeholders to assist States in the implementation of the UN standards and norms. They include a variety of handbooks, training curriculums and model laws which provide guidance to United Nations agencies, governments and individuals at each stage of criminal justice reform.

An overview of all the handbooks and manuals that the Justice Section develops is available in  English, French and  Spanish.

NEW!

Summary of the assessment on drug law enforcement with a gender perspective. Panama.  (PDF, Spanish only) (Video-summary:  English version,  Spanish version)

Compendium of United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice is available in full, or in part  here in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish. The full version of the Compendium is also available in  Portuguese and  Farsi, however, please note the Portuguese and Farsi versions are not official UN translations. Standards & Norms on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

• UN standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice for Peacekeepers  English,  French, Spanish
• UN Criminal Justice Standards for UN police  English,  French
• Addendum to the Standards of Professional Responsibilities and Statement of the Essential Duties and Rights of Prosecutors: Compilation of comments received from Member States,  English
• Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice  English,  Arabic,  Chinese,  French,  Russian,  Spanish
• United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules)  English,  Arabic,  Chinese,  French,  Russian, Spanish
• United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems  English , Arabic , Chinese , French , Russian, Spanish , NEW!

Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit

The  Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit is a standardized and cross-referenced set of tools designed to enable United Nations agencies, government officials engaged in criminal justice reform, as well as other organizations and individuals to conduct comprehensive assessments of criminal justice systems. The purpose of such assessments being to identify areas of technical assistance required and to assist in training on these issues.

The Tools have been grouped within criminal justice system sectors: Policing; Access to Justice; Custodial and Non-Custodial Measures; and Cross-Cutting Issues.

Criminal Justice

• Enhancing Criminal Justice Reform, including Restorative Justice  English
• Criminal Justice Reform in Post-Conflict States: A Guide for Practitioners  English
• Further information is available on the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy's  website

Crime Prevention

• Training Manual on Policing Urban Space  English,  Spanish
• Introductory Handbook on Policing Urban Space  English French Portuguese
• Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders English, French,  Spanish
• Crime Prevention Assessment tool  English,  French,  Spanish, Portuguese
• Handbook on the Crime Prevention Guidelines - Making them Work  English, French, Spanish,  Portuguese
• Handbook on Crime Prevention in Southern Africa and the Caribbean Regions  English
• Practical Approaches to Urban Crime Prevention  English
• Strategies and Best Practices for Crime Prevention, in particular in relation to Urban Crime and Youth at Risk  English
• Further information is available on the International Center for the Prevention of Crime's  website

Police reform

• NEW! Training Manual on Policing Urban Space  English, Spanish
• Introductory Handbook on Policing Urban Space  English French Portuguese
• Handbook on Police Accountability, Oversight and Integrity  English
• Training Curriculum on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women  English,  Spanish,  French

Prosecution Services

• Addendum to International Association of Prosecutors Standard  English

Access to legal defence and legal aid

• Handbook on Access to Legal Aid in Africa. English
• Survey Report on Access to legal Aid in Africa.  English
• Child Friendly Legal Aid in Africa (UNICEF, UNDP, UNODC). English , French

Prison reform and alternatives to imprisonment

• Handbook of basic principles and promising practices on Alternatives to Imprisonment  English,  French, Spanish,  Turkish
• Handbook for Prison Leaders  Arabic,  English,  French, Spanish (Unofficial Translation)
• Handbook on Prisoner File Management  English,  French,  Arabic, Spanish (Unofficial Translation).
• Handbook on Prisoners With Special Needs,  Arabic,  English,  Spanish,  Turkish
• Handbook on Women and Imprisonment (2 ^nd. Edition) English ,  Arabic ,  Español
• Training curriculum on Women and Imprisonment Version 1.0,  English,  Albanian,  Bosnian,  Croatian, Macedonian,  Montenegrin,  Serbian, Español,   Francés.
• The Bangkok Rules-United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders with their Commentary  English  French    Spanish 
• Handbook on Strategies to Reduce Overcrowding in Prisons  English,  Arabic,  Indonesian,  Spanish,  French
• Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders  English,  French ,  Spanish 
• A Prison Evaluation Checklist for Post-Conflict Settings  English 
• Handbook on Dynamic Security and Prison Intelligence  English,  French,  Arabic , Spanish
• Handbook on the Management of High-Risk Prisoners  English,  Arabic 
• Brochure on The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules)  English   Spanish,  Russian
• Handbook on the Management of Violent Extremist Prisoners and the Prevention of Radicalization to Violence in Prisons  English,  Arabic,  French,  Russian 
• Summary of Key Principles and Recommendations of the Handbook on Violent Extremist Prisoners  English, Arabic,  French,  Russian,  Spanish 
• Assessing compliance with the Nelson Mandela Rules: A checklist for internal inspection mechanisms English,  Spanish,  Arabic,  French  Russian 
• UNODC Roadmap for the Development of Prison-based Rehabilitation Programmes  English 
• Handbook on Anti-Corruption Measures in Prisons  English 

Restorative Justice

• Handbook on restorative justice programmes.  English,  French,  Farsi, Spanish (Unofficial Translation), Turkish
• Handbook of basic principles and promising practices on Alternatives to Imprisonment.  English,  French, Spanish

Justice for Children

• Handbook for Professionals and Policymakers on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime.  Arabic,  Chinese,  English, French,  Russian,  Spanish
• Guidelines on Justice in Matters Involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime.  English
• United Nations Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving child victims and witnesses of crime Online Training.  English
• Justice in Matters Involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime: Model Law and Related Commentary. English,  Spanish,  French
• NEW! Criteria for the Design and Evaluation of Juvenile Justice Reform Programmes.  English,  French,  Spanish, Russian
• Child-friendly version of the UN Guidelines on Justice in Matters Involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime.  Arabic,  Chinese,  English,  French,  Russian,  Spanish
• Guidance Note of the Secretary-General: UN Approach to Justice for Children.  English
• Child Friendly Legal Aid in Africa.  English,  French
• UNODC/UNICEF Manual for the Measurement of juvenile justice indicators.  English,  French,  Spanish, Russian
• Capacity Building in the Area of Child Justice (the Child Justice Project) South Africa, 2003.  English
• Strengthening Legislative and Institutional Capacity for Juvenile Justice and Support to the Juvenile Justice System in Lebanon, 2005.  English,  Arabic
• Protecting the Rights of Children in Conflict with the Law, 2005.  English,  Arabic,  French,  Spanish

Gender in the Criminal Justice System

• Training curriculum on Women adn Imprisonment (based in the Bangkok Rules ). English .
• Handbook on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women.  English,  Spanish,  French.  Russian
• Training Curriculum on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women.  English,  Spanish,  French
• Handbook on Women and Imprisonment (2nd edition).  English
• Afghanistan: Female Prisoners and their social reintegration.  English

Victims

• Guide for policy makers on the Implementation of the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims and Abuse of Power.  English
• Handbook on Justice for Victims on the use and application of the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims and Abuse of Power.  English
• Intergovernmental Expert Group Meeting to review and update the Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Bangkok, 23-26 March 2009.  English