PUBLIC POLICY OF MEDIATION AND EFFECTIVE ACCESS TO JUSTICE, BETWEEN THE MUST-BE AND THE EXPERIENCED: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN JUDICIAL CENTERS IN TEIXEIRA DE FREITAS, BA.
Conflict Mediation; Judicial Centers for Consensual Conflict Resolution and Citizenship; Effective access to justice.
PUBLIC POLICY OF MEDIATION AND EFFECTIVE ACCESS TO JUSTICE, BETWEEN THE MUST-BE AND THE EXPERIENCED: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN JUDICIAL CENTERS IN TEIXEIRA DE FREITAS, BA. ABSTRACT The study aimed to comparatively analyze the Política Pública Judiciária Nacional de Tratamento Adequado dos Conflitos de Interesses (PJNTACI), emphasizing the conflict mediation policy implemented in the Centros Judiciários de Solução Consensual de Conflitos e Cidadania (CEJUSCs) in Teixeira de Freitas, BA. The methodological strategy was based on the qualitative method with emphasis on the comparison between the four Judicial Centers in the city. For the empirical research, semistructured interviews were conducted with the coordinators, directors and mediators who work within the CEJUSCs, between the years 2015 and 2022, in addition to observing the immediate contexts of the investigated Judiciary Centers, as well as the analysis of documents and official discourses about access to mediation services. The results of the research point out weaknesses in the implementation of the policy related to the absence of periodic qualitative monitoring of the social mediation practices of the Judicial Centers, carried out with preponderance through quantitative criteria, as well as the performance of the agencies responsible for providing conflict mediation services. The variations in the performance of the CEJUSCs, as decentralized entities of the court, result from aspects related to structural particularities, human resources, and discontinuities imposed by the established institutional arrangement: in the case of private partnerships, structural and work team conditions; in the case of public institutions, differences related to the associative dynamics of the mediation policy, structural and political conditions of the city, as well as by the performance of the social actors in intersection with other institutions and decision-making arenas. Considering the results obtained, it is possible to sustain that the uncompensated and unassisted implementation of rigorous qualitative monitoring of the practices and development of the Public Policy of Mediation, in the contexts of the CEJUSCs of Teixeira de Freitas, provide the opportunity for the emergence of effects and undesired directions and even contrary to the objectives established by the PPM, which can generate discredit and/or social distrust in relation to alternative means of conflict resolution, especially mediation.