Early Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Processes Handbook

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Early Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Processes Handbook

October 29, 2015

This Early Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Processes Handbook is a practical guide for developing and implementing policies and programmes to ensure early access to legal aid.

 

The Handbook draws on the international standards set by the United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems and seeks to address some of the challenges that practitioners face in ensuring such access to legal aid.

 

In particular, the Handbook is designed to:

 

• Explain the provisions of the United Nations Principles and Guidelines relating to early access to legal aid


• Systematically explore the challenges and obstacles to effective provision of early access to legal aid

 

• Provide policymakers, civil servants and practitioners (lawyers, judges, prosecutors, police officers, detention officers, civil society actors and others) with tools for capacity development to assist them with in overcoming such challenges and obstacles

• Suggest some practical and innovative solutions, using examples from different jurisdictions

• Provide training resources for legal aid providers and the police (or other investigative agencies).