[en] In this work, we study and quantitatively predict the quantum spin Hall effect, the spin-orbit interaction induced intrinsic spin-Hall effect, spin-orbit induced magnetizations, and spin-polarized electric currents in nanostructured two-dimensional electron or hole gases with and without the presence of magnetic fields. We propose concrete device geometries for the generation, detection, and manipulation of spin polarization and spin-polarized currents. To this end a novel multi-band quantum transport theory, that we termed the multi-scattering Buettiker probe model, is developed. The method treats quantum interference and coherence in open quantum devices on the same footing as incoherent scattering and incorporates inhomogeneous magnetic fields in a gauge-invariant and nonperturbative manner. The spin-orbit interaction parameters that control effects such as band energy spin splittings, g-factors, and spin relaxations are calculated microscopically in terms of an atomistic relativistic tight-binding model. We calculate the transverse electron focusing in external magnetic and electric fields. We have performed detailed studies of the intrinsic spin-Hall effect and its inverse effect in various material systems and geometries. We find a geometry dependent threshold value for the spin-orbit interaction for the inverse intrinsic spin-Hall effect that cannot be met by n-type GaAs structures. We propose geometries that spin polarize electric current in zero magnetic field and analyze the out-of-plane spin polarization by all electrical means. We predict unexpectedly large spin-orbit induced spin-polarization effects in zero magnetic fields that are caused by resonant enhancements of the spin-orbit interaction in specially band engineered and geometrically designed p-type nanostructures. We propose a concrete realization of a spin transistor in HgTe quantum wells, that employs the helical edge channel in the quantum spin Hall effect.