MEASURING THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PUBLIC DEFENDER'S OFFICES IN BRAZIL: A PROPOSAL FOR A MULTIDIMENSIONAL INDEX

Abstract

The Brazilian Public Defender's Offices play a crucial role not only in providing legal assistance to citizens in situations of social vulnerability but also in acting against the state to demand the provision of public services and to combat abuses of power at the federal, state, and municipal levels. The aim of this article is to propose a method for measuring the institutionalization of Brazilian Public Defender's Offices by employing a multidimensional index. This index is composed of indicators related to longevity, organizational structure, budget, and services provided to the population, all of which are linked to state capacities. We used data from the administrative reports of the National Public Defender's Office Survey (PNDP) for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023. The final index was formulated based on four highly correlated variables: the number of public defenders, the number of civil servants hired through public competition, the executed budget, and the number of services rendered. Factor analysis was used to determine the scores of the different variables in calculating the index, ensuring that each variable was weighted according to its contribution to the correlation among the data. With the institutionalization index ranging from -0.61 to 2.20, the Public Defender’s Offices of São Paulo (DPE/SP) and Rio de Janeiro (DPE/RJ) showed the highest levels of institutionalization, while the lowest values were recorded for the Public Defender's Offices of Amapá (DPE/AP) and Acre (DPE/AC). The analysis highlights aspects of the institutional capacity of these justice system agencies and demonstrates the effects that investments in personnel and administrative structure have on strengthening institutions within the federation.