The constitutionalization of the Public Defender’s Office: disputes over space in the justice system

Abstract The 1988 Constitution inserted the Public Defender’s Office in the Brazilian justice system in order to provide legal aid to people in need. At this time, the institution was a novelty in many parts of the country, and other institutional arrangements for legal aid were available in various places. This paper has analyzed the Constituent Assembly’s debate to identify patterns of conflict concerning the constitutional provision of a Public Defender’s Office. The debates reveal three avenues of objection to the standardization of legal aid through the Public Defender’s Office, which are institutional effects from previous state arrangements and from the centrality that the Public Prosecutor’s Office was acquiring in the justice system. We observe that institutions and public policy, by influencing actors’ aims and strategies, affect processes of institutional development and change. These findings contribute to the literature on Public Defense, which stresses the institution’s potential to promote social justice and the democratization of the justice system in Brazil. In spite of observing the institution’s incapacity to live up to its potential in practice, it isn’t able identify that this limitation is, largely, a consequence of the difficulty of inserting a Public Defender’s Office into an existing justice system.

摘要 1988年巴西宪法将公共辩护办公室（Public Defender’s Office）纳入巴西司法体系，旨在为有需求的人群提供法律援助。彼时，该机构在巴西国内诸多地区尚属新生事物，各地亦存在其他形式的法律援助制度安排。本文通过剖析制宪会议（Constituent Assembly）的辩论记录，厘清围绕公共辩护办公室入宪条款的冲突类型。辩论显示，共有三类反对路径质疑通过公共辩护办公室实现法律援助标准化的主张，其反对根源可归结为两大方面：一是此前既有国家制度安排所带来的体制效应，二是公共检察厅（Public Prosecutor’s Office）在司法体系中逐步确立的核心地位。研究发现，制度与公共政策会通过影响行动者的目标与策略，作用于制度发展与变迁进程。上述发现为公共辩护领域的相关研究提供了新的参考——该领域既有文献多强调公共辩护办公室在推动巴西社会正义与司法体系民主化进程中的潜在价值。尽管研究观察到该机构在实践中未能充分兑现其潜能，但本文尚未能明确，此种局限在很大程度上源于将公共辩护办公室嵌入既有司法体系所面临的重重困难。