Publication

IDS Bulletin Vol. 32 Nos. 1

The Public Prosecutor’s Office and Legal Change in Brazil

Published on 1 January 2001

Summaries In Brazil there is a significant gap between legality and reality. Legal Brazil is a country of equality and extensive rights, while the real Brazil is amongst the most unequal in the world and rights are consistently violated. This article examines how substantial legal innovations introduced by the 1988 Constitution may be narrowing this gap between the legal and the real. It focuses in particular on how new diffuse and collective rights in the Constitution may represent a potential mechanism for distributive justice, and on the greatly expanded role of the Office of the Public Prosecutor. Public prosecutors have become significant political actors in Brazil, playing an ever more important role in overseeing public institutions and in defending collective rights. They increasingly work with civil society actors to solve social problems that lie behind the defence of these rights.

Cite this publication

Sadek, M., T. (2001) The Public Prosecutor's Office and Legal Change in Brazil. IDS Bulletin 32(1): 65-73

Publication details

published by
Institute of Development Studies
authors
Sadek, Maria Tereza

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