The Brazilian Councils of Justice and Public Prosecutor's Office as Instruments of Accountability/ Os Conselhos Nacionais de Justica e do Ministerio Publico no Brasil: instrumentos de accountability?/ Los Consejos Nacionales de Justicia y el Ministerio Publico en Brasil: ¿instrumentos de accountability?

Councils acting in the Justice System in democracies have different purposes: to strengthen the independence of the judiciary and the public prosecutors office, to increase accountability of judges and prosecutors, or/and to improve justice management. This article analyzes the Brazilian National Council of Justice (CNJ) and the National Council ofthe Brazilian Public Prosecutor's Office (CNMP), particularly regarding their purpose as instruments of accountability. The study shows that these bodies were created as instruments to increase transparency and compel judges and prosecutors to be held accountable for their actions and choices. The hypothesis tested in this research is that the two councils did not meet this expectation. The CNJ and CNMP were analyzed for their institutional design, discussing how the composition and distribution of positions at the council encourage independence of the judges and prosecutors rather than accountability. In addition, the article offers data on the councils' decisions when accusations were presented. Finally, the analysis revealed that CNJ and CNMP are mainly composed of internal members of the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's Office, and identified a lack of expressive punishment applied to judges and prosecutors. Therefore, the hypothesis that the councils do not work as instruments of accountability was confirmed. Keywords: judiciary; public prosecutor's office; accountability. Em democracias, conselhos, orgaos colegiados atuantes no Sistema de Justica possuem diferentes finalidades: reforcar a independencia do Poder Judiciario e do Ministerio Publico (MP), incrementar a accountability em relacao a juizes e promotores e/ou aprimorar a gestao da Justica. Este artigo analisa o Conselho Nacional de Justica (CNJ) e o Conselho Nacional do Ministerio Publico (CNMP), considerando principalmente os dois primeiros aspectos. No momento da criacao desses orgaos, acreditava-se que ambos seriam instrumentos para aumentar a transparencia e possibilitar que juizes e promotores pudessem responder por suas acoes e escolhas. Nossa hipotese e que essa expectativa nao se realizou. Para testa-la, analisaremos o desenho institucional do CNMP e do CNJ, apontando como a composicao e a distribuicao de cargos incentivam mais a independencia que a accountability e apresentaremos tambem dados relativos ao comportamento dos Conselhos frente as denuncias disciplinares. A conclusao e que, em virtude da composicao majoritaria do CNJ e do C