Defensoria pública e aplicação de métodos extrajudiciais nos estados da região norte do Brasil nos períodos 2006-2008 e 2018-2021

Abstract

The promotion of extrajudicial conflict resolution is the institutional duty of the Public Defender's Office. It is the only function that receives, in the list of constant attributions in its national organic law, the addition of the word “priority”. This is an activity that was established in the original wording of the aforementioned regulatory law (and consisted of promoting extrajudicial conciliation between the parties) and that, since the advent of Complementary Law n.º 132/09, it encompasses the various techniques of composition and conflict management, appearing, in our times, as a priority institutional function. However, numerous factors can prevent or hinder the fulfillment of this institutional mission, such as the deficit of public defenders, lack of specific training, workload, lack of budgetary resources, structural difficulties (materials, support staff, etc.), the indispensability of working with the Judiciary (defense in court), the deficient coverage of services, inadequate environment, among others. Thus, in view of the difficulties faced and considering that this is a priority function determined by law, this research investigates the application of extrajudicial methods and techniques for dealing with conflicts by the Public Defender's Office in the assistance provided by the institution, and adopts as a spatial cut the Public Defenders of the Northern Region of Brazil-DPEs. To this end, it analyzes the proportionality/disproportionality and continuity/discontinuity existing between the cases received by these public defenders and the number of extrajudicial agreements entered into during these periods (those not judicially approved), as well as strategic planning and institutional organizational charts. The method used is hypothetical-deductive, with qualitative and quantitative research of the descriptive, analytical and explanatory type, and later inferential. In qualitative research, bibliographical and documentary research is used. In conducting the quantitative research, the main source of data is the National Public Defender's Survey (2022), and the time frame is the periods correlated to the database used (2006-2008 and 2018-2021). As a result, when collecting the data and performing the statistical analysis, it was found that the DPEs in the northern region effectively apply extrajudicial methods and techniques for dealing with conflicts, but apply them regularly with low intensity; and, in general, with reduced use over time.