the state of Rio Grande do Norte. 17 restructured main offices of Legal Assistance to Inmates and Their Families, provided by the Federal Public Defender Office in the following states: Acre, Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Pará, Pernambuco, Piauí, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Tocantins, and Federal District. 124.Another relevant action in this connection is that of the National Force of the Public Defender’s Office to provide, whenever requested, legal assistance and protection of the rights of temporary, definitive, and interned male and female detainees that lack the financial means to hire a lawyer, in all Units of the Brazilian Penitentiary System. This measure optimizes the work already done by the respective State Public Defender’s Offices, or stepping in when there is no Public Defender’s Office. The Force has already worked in the states of Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, and Santa Catarina, benefiting 5,066 persons. 125.Moreover, to guarantee access to justice for the population living in a vulnerable situation, legal assistance centers have been established in the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) of the state of Rio de Janeiro. To this effect, a cooperation agreement was signed by the Rio de Janeiro State Governor, the president of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), the Minister of Justice, the president of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice, and other ten authorities of the National and the Rio de Janeiro State Judiciary. This partnership makes the UPPs into centers of access to Justice and citizenship. In this manner, the population will have access to different agencies of the Judiciary at both the local and the national levels, and access to Justice becomes available also to the families of detainees. (b)Forensics 126.To strengthen forensics independence, Law 12030 of 17 August 2009 was enacted, establishing general norms for official criminal forensics. This law ensures forensics experts technical, scientific, and functional autonomy, so that any possibility of interference in their work is precluded. As this is an activity that requires high professional qualification, this law establishes as a requirement for the exercise of this profession nationwide approval at a public competitive examination, in addition to specific academic training. 127.Currently nine states and the Federal District have forensics units linked to the Civil Police, and in 16 states the forensics units are administratively subordinated directly to the Public Security Department, Social Defense, or similar bodies. The exception is the state of Amapá, where the Scientific Technical Police is subordinated directly to the Government and enjoys the status of a Department. 128.It should be noted that, in some states, such as Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, where forensics is separate from the Civil Police, Central Forensics Bodies have been established and there is a forensic expert career. In the state of Paraná, there is a forensics expert career under the Scientific Police. 129.Also worth mentioning is the initiative of the Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil in establishing, in 2003, a Work Group on “Torture and Forensics Expertise,” which drafted the Brazilian Protocol on Forensics Expertise in the Crime of Torture that provides guidelines to be followed by forensics bodies, experts, and professionals. The Brazilian Protocol is consistent with the Istanbul Protocol as regards procedures for identification and production of forensic evidence in cases of crime of torture. The document is also guided by the principles and recommendations of the United Nations Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as SPT’s orientation. 130.To contribute to the incorporation of the Istanbul Protocol procedures into the practices adopted by official Brazilian forensics experts, between 2006 and 2011, the Brazilian Government held training workshops on “Forensic Expertise focused on crimes of torture” in eleven Brazilian cities. About 800 people were trained, including Judges, Prosecutors, Federal State Attorneys, Chiefs of Police, Public Defenders, Official Medical Examiners, Criminal Experts, Committees on Combating Torture, and representatives of entities devoted to Human Rights. H.Measures to improve the social-educative system 131.To reduce disparities among the states and promote the transition from a prison culture to a social-educative culture regarding adolescents, the Brazilian Government is implementing a programme in support of the states and municipalities toward implementation of SINASE. This has yielded the following results: (a) improvement of the physical network, 82 building projects in the states and the Federal District, resulting in a total of 5,570 vacancies/adolescents; (b) training of 13,765 professionals active in the social-educative system; (c) studies and surveys, including on such themes as “homicide by adolescents serving social-educative deprivation of liberty sentences,” “profile of religious assistance in the Brazilian social-educative system,” “media coverage of issues related to adolescents in conflict with the law;” (d) information made available through the System of Information on Children and Adolescents-SIPIA SINASE Web (module for permitting the synchronizing of information management procedures between the Federal Government and social-educative units; (e) support to innovative, culture transforming experiences, such as the Socioeducando Award; (f) support for restorative practices developed in São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul; and (g) support for technical defense and judicial and social protection of adolescents in conflict with the law. There is also under way a regionalization process that includes the establishment of specialized structures, such as juvenile courts and prosecutors and defenders offices. Programme for the Implementation of the National Social-Educative System 2007-2010 Budgets Year Authorized 2007 2008 SDH Allocated 7,534,000,00 47,994,209,00 FNCA Authorized 7,533,364.22 38,506,358.38 Total Allocated Authorized Allocated 40,692,462.00 40,304,424.82 48,226,462.00 47,837,789.04 18,790,371.00 10,283,532.30 66,784,580.00 48,789,890.68