Suchergebnisse

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.

Com o objetivo de identificar as características dos serviços da Defensoria Pública da União, a partir da abordagem integradora da inovação, realizou-se um estudo de caso qualitativo-descritivo. Observou-se que, para a prestação de assistência jurídica, é necessário mobilizar competências relacionadas ao conhecimento e operação do Direito, atendimento ao público, interação com outros órgãos, realização de mutirões e conciliação extrajudicial. Os serviços são construídos por meio de operações informacionais, de conhecimento e relacionais. Modificações nas competências e nos meios de construção conduziram principalmente inovações incrementais e de melhoria, ligadas ao princípio norteador intensivo. Observou-se também a relação entre princípios norteadores e formas de inovação, sendo o princípio extensivo ligado à forma radical, o intensivo relacionado às formas incremental e de melhoria, e o combinatório orientador das formas ad hoc e por recombinação.