Anais EnAJUS 2020
ISSN 2674-8401
Characterizing the Autonomy of Nationwide Public Defenders’ Offices: a systematic comparison between 15 Latin American countries (Artigo Empírico)
Autoria: Bernardo Oliveira Buta (Fundação Getulio Vargas e Defensoria Pública da União)
Informações
Sessão 08 - Governança e Legitimidade em Sistemas de Justiça - 25/09, das 16h00 às 18h00
Mediação: Samir Adamoglu de Oliveira (Universidade Federal da Paraíba)
Resumo
In most Latin American countries, the provision of legal assistance to the economically and socially vulnerable population is carried out by public Defender’s offices (PDOs), entities composed of state-paid career lawyers. These entities have different institutional design and various levels of autonomy. Studies on autonomy have focused mainly on regulatory agencies in developed western countries. In this way, a study on Latin American PDOs brings a great contribution to the literature on delegation of authority to autonomous entities. The aim of this paper is twofold: characterize the autonomy of the nationwide Latin American PDOs, and explain the cross countries variations in the autonomy levels. Therefore, a scale to measure autonomy was built allowing access to the autonomy of 15 different PDOs. Data were gathered through content analysis of the statutes that organize the PDOs. The results demonstrate different levels of autonomy among Latin American PDOs. There are indications of a positive relationship between de facto and formal autonomy. The level of autonomy varies according to factors related to institutional and social contexts, and reputational mechanisms. The level of poverty and income is especially relevant, in view of the institutional mission of PDOs and the social inequality historically observed in the region. The data set generated by this study is unique and covers a large amount of Latin American Countries. It could be used in futures studies to evaluate the consequences of the agencification of the policies related to access to justice in Latin America.
Palavras-chave
Governance; Delegation; Public Defender’s Offices; Latin AmericaPDF Todos os trabalhos desta edição