Abstract

• The Brazilian Constitution states, in art. 5, regarding the individual rights and guarantees, section 74: "the State will provide full and free legal assistance to those with proven insufficiency of resources".
• According to the Constitution, art. 134, the Public Defender's Office would be the fundamental institution for the State's judicial function responsible for the legal guidance and the defence of the people in need at every level.
• However, there is a huge distance between the legal wording and reality. The Public Defenders of the Union, responsible for Legal and Judicial Assistance in federal matters shows an extreme deficit, with a small structure and a few defenders. The same happens at State level. Few of them have a Public Defender's Office, and, where it does exist, it is insufficient.
• In the State of São Paulo, the Public Defender's Office has only 400 attorneys, who, despite their hard-work, they are in insufficient number to attend to an immense population in need. The units in which the Public Defender's Office is defended in order to guarantee the access to Justice by the most vulnerable: their difficulties;
• Facing this deficit, an agreement was established with the Order of Attorneys of Brazil (OAB) and 47,000 attorneys now provide legal assistance against payment;
• However, what causes more concern is the distance between Justice and the people. Both in what concerns the mentality of the agents of Justice, courts and public prosecution service and in what concerns the physical inaccessibility it self, with the distant jurisdictions of the most populated and poor neighbourhoods of major cities.
• There are important experiments of conflict resolution: the Ombudsman or Mediation Office in Fortaleza and other cities of Ceará and Minas Gerais, as well as the Integrated Centres for Citizenship (CICs) in São Paulo, the Itinerary Justice and the provision of assistance to women victims of sexual violence.
• the Ombudsman or Mediation Office in Ceará has the principle that mediation consists on not forcing a solution but facilitating the dialogue, benefiting both parties;
• the National Council of Justice adopted the Popular Mediation campaign, promoting the creation of what is called Justice and Citizenship Offices opened in several States;
• As for CICs in São Paulo, the convergence of Justice takes place by moving the institutions closer to the population and adapting them to the context of conflict;
• Social Care Units at the police stations: these are other means to solve conflicts, without any bureaucracy and with the presence of Psychologists and Social Workers on the Police Stations, namely in the outskirts of major cities. The path is to solve conflicts and not to promote lawsuits;
• Assistance to victims of sexual violence, as Pro Bono legal practice. Positive experience, although incipient;
• Pro Bono legal practices to non-profit assisting entities without, per intervention area: promotion of citizenship; people with special needs; children and teenagers; human rights; environment;
• Special Criminal Courts: simplification of the swift justice generating process. For this reason, the Maria da Penha Law, regarding violence against women, allowed prohibiting the application of the Special Criminal Courts' regulations.

Biographic Note

Miguel Reale Júnior is Professor at the School of Law of the University of São Paulo since 1987, and was Minister of Justice in 2002. He is the author of more than 20 books and has received several awards and honours.

Reading material:

A Mediação Comunitária: Instrumento de Democratização da Justiça , Projecto Casa de Justiça e Cidadania, Mediação comunitária como meio de efetivação da democracia participativa .

Organization: Doctoral Programs "Law, Justice, and Citizenship in the Twenty First Century" and "Democracy in the Twenty-first Century".