The Contextual Relationship with Access to Justice: Parameters That Impact the Brazilian Courts

Access to justice is understood as a fundamental right that serves as an instrument for the courts to claim other rights. Factors such as ignorance of rights and the perception of justice as expensive, slow, and exclusionary prevent most of the population from going to court. This study aimed to analyze the quantitative determinants of (potential and actual) access to the Judiciary across all Brazilian courts, focusing on two perspectives: internal elements of the Judiciary and external elements. The method used was multiple linear regression, with a sample of 89 Brazilian courts (27 state courts of justice, 27 electoral courts, 24 regional labor courts, five federal regional courts, three military courts, and three superior courts). The results indicate that the statistically significant variables for effective access to the judiciary were the number of judges, the number of effective civil servants, resources invested in technology, the education rate, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Regarding potential access to the judiciary, the only statistically significant variables were the number of civil servants and GDP per capita.