Cyndi Banks

        Chair and Professor

        Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice

        Northern Arizona University

        PO Box 15005

        Flagstaff, AZ  USA

        86011-5005

        email:  cyndi.banks@nau.edu

I bring my international experience into the classroom where I teach international human rights (First Year Seminar and a graduate Seminar); youth and justice (graduate seminar); dilemmas in justice (justice ethics: capstone); youth, crime and justice (undergraduate); comparative perspectives in culture and crime; women in prison;  gender and crime; comparative criminology and gender; and justice in comparative perspectives focusing on the developing world.

I have more than 24 years of experience of research and project implementation in developing countries.  I am an expert on juvenile justice protection, gender issues,  justice policy, probation and parole, criminal justice ethics and on capacity building in the justice system.  My strengths are in institutional capacity building in the justice sector, especially with government ministries and departments; gender mainstreaming; and legal reform especially justice policy reform and juvenile justice reform and protection; and judicial, police and associated training in criminal justice ethics.  I am the author of a standard US textbook on criminal justice ethics (now in its second edition) and have taught ethics for many years.

I continue to conduct international research and participate in development projects in juvenile justice, children's rights, gender mainstreaming, and justice policy in various developing countries including Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Iraq and East Timor.  I have published widely on comparative criminological issues as well as on gender, juvenile justice and punishment.  My most recent book concerns issues of power, resistance and culture in a juvenile institution and is entitled, "Alaska Native Juveniles in Detention:  A Qualitative Study of Treatment and Resistance."

My experience in Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Iraq, Sudan and East Timor has focused on capacity building in the justice sector. I am an expert trainer in children's rights, juvenile justice, international standards and have produced numerous handbooks and manuals covering child protection, probation and parole practice and counseling skills for use by criminal justice agencies. I have developed rule of law policies for human rights protection and have worked at the highest levels of government interacting with Ministers, Heads of departments, and line officers as well as judges, magistrates, police and correctional officials. I have designed projects and developed strategies to implement them.