Performance of Public Defender’s Offices: Dimensions, Indicators and Associated Factors

Abstract Public defender’s offices are institutions that work to guarantee access to justice through legal assistance, promote human rights and offer legal aid to vulnerable populations. Evaluating the performance of public defender’s offices is a complex task, but it is necessary to ensure adequate provision of the services offered and to provide greater benefits to the service users. This research aimed to identify the performance of public defenders and public defender’s offices, how it is measured and the factors associated with this performance. To this end, a review of scientific studies was carried out using the PRISMA protocol. The results allowed the systematization of indicators and factors associated with the performance of the two dominant dimensions of public defender’s offices: internal output and user satisfaction. Each dimension was categorized in relation to the different groups, with institutional, individual, subjective and objective perspectives. Next, all the indicators used in the literature to measure the performance of public defenders and public defender’s offices were presented and discussed. Finally, the research presents the explanatory factors associated with performance. The paper highlights the main theoretical, managerial and social contributions of the reviewed studies and offers a research agenda for future studies on the topic.