The autonomy of public defender's offices: a systematic comparison between Latin American countries

Abstract

PurposeIn most Latin American countries, the provision of legal assistance to the vulnerable population is carried out by public defender's offices (PDOs), agencies composed of state-paid career lawyers. The aim of this paper is to explain the cross-country variation in regarding the autonomy levels of Latin American PDOs.Design/methodology/approachA scale to measure autonomy was built allowing access to the autonomy of sixteen different PDOs. Data were gathered through content analysis of the statutes that organize the PDOs and analyzed through qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).FindingsThe results demonstrate different levels of autonomy among Latin American PDOs. Furthermore, conditions related to institutional and social contexts, such as levels of income, human development, democracy, and the complexity of the political systems, presented sufficient relationships for high levels of autonomy.Research limitations/implicationsIt was not possible to interview representatives of the PDOs analyzed. This could help the interpretation of the legislation applied to PDOs, as well as the observation of regulations that may not have come to the knowledge of researchers. Thus, analyses were made according to what was observed in the legislation of each country. It is also noteworthy that this research covered only nationwide PDOs, not involving subnational PDOs. In addition, the data have only internal validity, and cannot be extrapolated to the population.Practical implicationsThe creation of a scale to measure the autonomy of public agencies stands out as an original comparative data set of PDOs covering a large amount of Latin American countries.Social implicationsThis study was able to characterize the institutional arrangements of sixteen national PDOs, allowing broad comparison between legal aid agencies for the vulnerable population in a region of the world that still suffers from high levels of poverty.Originality/valueThe article presents possible explanations on the variations of PDOs' level of autonomy, showing PDOs' idiosyncrasies, whose autonomy is influenced also by social context variables, in view of the nature of their mission. It should be noted that factors related to the social context are not widely considered by the literature on autonomy of public agencies.

When autonomy is necessary for performance: Brazilian public defenders’ offices

“…In the present study, autonomy is related to the individual perception of bureaucrats. It is also noteworthy that Brazilian PDOs have much higher levels of autonomy than PDOs in other Latin American countries (Buta, 2021).…”

Is “justice hurried actually justice buried”? An organisational perspective of the Italian criminal justice

“…This is particularly true in criminal processes, where a judge must determine the plea and its degree in order to set a penalty. Focusing on the organisational configuration of Tribunals, it is drawn on autonomy as a horizontal micro-criterion that orients a sharp division of the labour (Buta, 2021). The courts are different and separate for compositions.…”

Quando a autonomia é necessária para o desempenho: defensoria pública do Brasil

“…Há evidências de que uma maior autonomia leva a uma menor disponibilidade de recursos, e não o contrário. Esse resultado vai de encontro ao que foi encontrado por Buta (2019), ao estudar as DPs latino-americanas. Vale ressaltar, no entanto, que a autonomia naquele estudo é tomada de forma ampla, ou seja, observou-se o arranjo institucional da organização como um todo.…”

“…No presente estudo, a autonomia está relacionada à percepção individual dos burocratas. Ressalta-se também que as DPs brasileiras possuem níveis de autonomia muito maiores do que as DPs de outros países da América Latina (Buta, 2021).…”