A Defensoria Pública como importante ator social no aperfeiçoamento de políticas públicas

Abstract

The emergence of Public Defenders' Offices throughout history occurred due to the evolution of the concept of access to justice and the result of movements in society. In Brazil, Public Defender's Office as a state institution emerged in the Federal Constitution of 1988, which adopted the concept of effective access to justice. This concept of access to justice contributes to citizens’ real access to justice and the guarantee of their rights, that is, access to justice in its effective, integral, and not just formal aspect. The institutional advance reserved by the Federal Constitution to the Public Defender's Office put it in a prominent position in the defense of citizens' rights, which has not yet been fully explored. In addition to judicial and extrajudicial orientation, the Public Defender's Office has the opportunity to expand its scope of action towards participation in the proposition and improvement of public policies, projecting itself as relevant social-political actor also for the definition of the social arrangement of our society. A step further in the evolution of access to justice, understood not only as formal justice, but as real, effective and permanent justice.