Governance and Public Security In Brazil: An Analysis Of State Departments Of Public Security -- CANCELLED

As in other areas, the public security policies have faced institutional, organizational and cultural obstacles. Sometimes are the limitations and conflicts of jurisdiction that hinder the implementation of new policies. On other occasions are the internal structures of the institutions of public security and criminal justice that hinder innovation. Moreover, the organizational culture permeated by mistrust and prejudice has hindered quite the implementation of new public security policies.

In Brazil, the State Departments of Public Security play an important role in the coordination and articulation of the actions of the various institutions that compose the criminal justice system. Its structure varies in each state, as well as the profile of the professionals who work there. Furthermore, there are significant differences with regard to their political status vis-à-vis the police. There are cases that the police are formally subordinate to the secretaries of public security. In other situations, police chiefs have the same powers of the secretaries. These differences ultimately reflect on the capacity of these departments to formulate and implement public security policies.

In this paper, we analyze the governance capacity of the Brazilian State Departments of Public Security. That is, the ability of these departments formulating and coordinating policies in the area of security.