Provisions on the treatment of persons detained before trial exist in many international instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. Issued by the UN Centre for Human Rights and Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, the handbook is concerned with the practical implementation of UN standards on pretrial detention. The handbook provides practical guidelines for implementing UN standards, based on expert opinions and experiences of countries with pretrial detention. The handbook is intended to be flexible, offering advice rather than compulsory guidelines to criminal justice practitioners. Handbook chapters focus on such topics as nondiscrimination, presumption of innocence, arrest, notification, appearance before judicial or other authorities, substitutes for confinement, pretrial detention length, access to counsel, investigation of detained persons, physical conditions of detention, the use of discipline and restraints in pretrial detention, judicial review of confinement, administrative detention, and special rules for juveniles. Annexes provide supplemental information on pretrial release services and a pretrial release information form. 11 references