Book excerpt: This handbook is a reference for those who intend to introduce practices to reduce and prevent crime. It forms part of a series of tools developed by the United Nations. Office on Drugs and Crime to support countries in implementing the rule of law and the development of crime prevention and criminal justice reform. It uses experience from the developing word, especially from the Caribbean and Southern Africa and takes into account the work that has been done on the South-South exchange programme since 2004. It is a very useful tool to know why crime takes place, what kind of programme for crime prevention works depending on the context, what information is needed as well as what are the ways to build capacity for effective crime prevention.