Presentation (RDPDF vol. 6 n. 2 2024)

Abstract

It is with great satisfaction that we present the thematic dossier published in Volume 6, Issue 3 (2024), focusing on “Access to Justice, Rights, and the Public Defender’s Office from the Perspective of the Brazilian Supreme Court’s Jurisprudence.”

The topic of access to justice stimulates critical debates on different forms of access to justice and the structures of justice systems, addressing legal, political, social, economic, institutional, and philosophical dimensions. Of particular importance is ensuring access to justice for socially vulnerable individuals and groups. In the institutional framework being shaped since the country’s democratization in 1988, this guarantee is anchored in the Public Defender’s Office—a permanent institution essential to the judicial function of the State. As both an expression and a tool of the democratic regime, the Public Defender’s Office is fundamentally tasked with legal guidance, the promotion of human rights, and the defense of individual and collective rights, both judicially and extrajudicially, at all levels and at no cost to those in need, as provided for in Articles 5, LXXIV, and 134 of the Federal Constitution.

The articles selected for this dossier focus on the role of the Public Defender’s Office, particularly within the framework often referred to as the “Defender State,” as reflected in decisions issued by the Brazilian Supreme Court. These decisions underscore the Public Defender’s Office as a vital tool for the realization of fundamental rights.