Public Defense and Access to Justice in a Federal Context: Who Gets What, and How in the Argentinean Provinces?

Abstract:     
This paper analyzes why and how territorial politics give rise to differences in right protection? And what do these differences encompass? In particular it analyzes how public defense is provided across provinces in Argentina. It shows that in a federal context in which residual competences of local authorities are high, differentiation and inequality in policy provision is enabled and likely. The paper maps the heterogeneous provision of public defense across Argentinean provinces and analyses the factors associated with the heterogeneous supply of public defenders across districts. It shows that supply of defenders across the territory is correlated with administrative considerations such as population and area rather than with the needs of the potential users of the service (poverty and litigiousness).

Number of Pages in PDF File: 32

Keywords: federalism, rights, public defenders, Argentina

working papers series