Opposition in the House wants to re-discuss PEC to reduce the age of criminal responsibility

Federal deputies in tune with the public security agenda are mobilized to rescue the debate on reducing the age of criminal responsibility in Congress. This portion of parliamentarians, which includes a good portion of the opposition to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the Chamber, intends to re-discuss the issue through a new proposal for an Amendment to the Constitution (PEC).

The deputies’ current articulation was triggered after the murder of a 71-year-old teacher in the attack on a state school by a 13-year-old teenager, on March 27, in São Paulo.

The effort to tighten the laws intensified this Wednesday (5), when a 25-year-old man invaded a day care center in Blumenau (SC) and killed four children at random with axes. The deputies then began to propose that the schools be protected by armed security guards and also that the penalties for crimes of homicide be increased, especially when committed against children.

“We are already mobilizing a PEC in the Chamber so that this [redução da maioridade penal] be established”, says the president of the Committee on Public Security and Combating Organized Crime of the Chamber, deputy Ubiratan Antunes Sanderson (PL-RS). According to him, the intention is to contemplate more crimes besides the heinous ones.

“I defend that, for all types of crime, of minor or major offensive potential, any type of citizen who attacks the State, who attacks physical integrity or the right to property, image rights, sexual freedom, any type of crime, be held accountable regardless of their age,” says Sanderson.

Last proposal to reduce the age of majority did not succeed in the Senate

The last attempt to change the age of criminal responsibility in Congress had been in progress since 2015 and was definitively shelved. It was PEC 115/2015, which reduced the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 years in cases of heinous crimes — such as rape and robbery — and also for intentional homicide and bodily injury followed by death.

It passed the House in 2015 but was never discussed by senators. It ended up being definitively shelved this week due to an automatic device that determines the discard of a proposal that was not discussed in two consecutive legislatures.

Federal deputy Evair Vieira de Melo (PP-ES) claims to have officiated senators with the request for the proposal to be withdrawn, including parliamentarians from his party. But senators from the PP say they are unaware of the demand to release PEC 115. “I have not received any request to unarchive the PEC”, says Senator Luis Carlos Heinze (PP-RS). Senator Esperidião Amin (PP-SC) also denies having been consulted and claims that the agenda was not on his “radar”. In 2015, then a federal deputy, Amin voted in favor of approving the text.

Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES), deputy leader of the opposition, stated in the same speech in plenary, on March 29, that he had presented a proposal to reduce the age of criminal responsibility, but no PEC on the subject was filed by him until Tuesday (4).

In the plenary speech, however, Malta positioned itself in favor of lowering the age of criminal responsibility. “I want to provoke a discussion on the subject. Anyone who commits a heinous crime, regardless of age, will have to pay,” she declared.

Opposition leader in the Chamber attributes “burying the PEC” to Pacheco and Lula

The leader of the opposition in the Chamber, Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ), minimizes the definitive shelving of the proposal in the Senate and attributes this to the base built by Lula in the Senate, which has the president of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), as an ally.

“It is difficult [avançar o debate e aprovar uma PEC de redução da maioridade penal] when we have a president of the Senate who is an ally of President Lula and the left. It’s unlikely to be on the agenda now, so we have to wait a little longer. But now is the time for us to put pressure on and discuss more”, he analyzes.

Jordy is in favor of rescuing the debate through the processing of a new PEC at the initiative of the deputies. “It will take more work, but it allows for more debate”, he comments. The opposition leader presided over the Joint Parliamentary Front for the Reduction of Criminal Majority in the last legislature and says that federal deputy Bia Kicis (PL-DF), deputy leader of the party in the Chamber, is already mobilizing to reinstall the thematic bench in the current legislature .

“With the installation of the front, we will be able to further mature this debate, call people to debate and wait for Pacheco to leave so we can vote”, highlights Jordy.

Bia expects to start collecting signatures for the parliamentary front next week, say interlocutors. The deputy claims to have always defended reducing the age of majority to 16 years, but today, she thinks that the age for framing minors in crimes of the Penal Code may be even lower.

“Given the information that young people have access to nowadays and, above all, given the crimes that some have committed, I believe that the best thing would be to reduce the age to 14. We are going to work for Congress to debate and approve this change”, said Bia to the site metropolises published on March 27.

Current times require lowering the age of criminal responsibility, say deputies

The discourse among deputies in favor of a new PEC follows the line that a young minor in current times is fully aware of his actions and should be held accountable as an adult in case of committing crimes.

“A 16 year old guy in 1940 [ano em foi criado o atual Código Penal], for example, had a perception of social life. Today, a 16-year-old boy has another perception. The cognitive condition of a 16-year-old today is much greater than it was in 1940. So, it’s time to start the discussion”, evaluates Sanderson.

The chairman of the House Committee on Public Safety and Combating Organized Crime says that in most democratic countries, people who commit crimes are held accountable regardless of age. For him, the attack by a minor, aged 13, in São Paulo last week, should be seen as one more case to stimulate debate in Congress.

“We are going to have this discussion and, from there, indicate policies for Brazilian society saying in a clear message, for everyone that: either people live within the law, socially in peace, or, then, he has to be removed from the environment social. And how does the removal work? Through a judgment by the Judiciary, with the right of defense and with the participation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office”, says Sanderson.

The leader of the opposition in the Chamber endorses the speech, including the debate to reduce the age of criminal responsibility to “other ages” and foreseeing the possibility of a scope for “other crimes”, in addition to the heinous ones. “It is a debate that must be held, society and the overwhelming majority are in favor of the reduction. Times have changed, people aged 17 are no longer children, they are adults”, defends deputy Carlos Jordy.

Dissemination of attacks reinforces support for lowering the age of criminal responsibility

The attack carried out by a minor in São Paulo was not the only one recorded by state public security agencies in recent weeks. In São Paulo, the Civil Police recorded seven police reports involving teenagers’ plans for attacks in a school environment between March 27 and 28 alone.

São Paulo Public Security Secretary Guilherme Derrite suspects that the wide dissemination of images of the attack on the Thomazia Montoro State School has motivated other teenagers. “The contagion effect is a reality and is demonstrating in practice what happens when a case is disclosed exhaustively in this way”, he commented.

In Inhumas (GO), three teenagers were identified by the Civil Police as perpetrators of alleged massacres that would be carried out in schools in the state. According to the threat, the massacre would take place on March 29, but the police managed to prevent these acts from taking place.

Two other cases were registered in Rio de Janeiro. On March 28, a 15-year-old minor was apprehended by the Military Police (PM-RJ) after trying to stab classmates at a municipal school in Gávea, in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro. According to the police, only the aggressor was injured, when he was immobilized by the agents. The following day, a 12-year-old teenager was apprehended by the Civil Police (PC-RJ) on suspicion of planning an attack on another school in the capital.

Deputy Paulo Bilynskyj (PL-SP) attributes the spread of cases to what he considers to be a mistaken approach by the press and also to the lack of armed protection in schools and punishment of minors. As a result, he presented a bill that makes it mandatory for public and private schools to have specialized and armed security and also advocates the approval of a PEC on reducing the age of criminal responsibility.

“The three main crimes committed by minors are theft, followed by homicide and drug trafficking. They are not misunderstood people, as they have the capacity to understand. The current criterion of the penal code is biopsychological, but this age limit is wrong. A person aged 18 is already formed. We need to adapt the concept of being prepared psychologically to the modern world”, he defends.

Deputy Captain Alberto Neto (PL-AM) is also in favor of the agenda. “There is no room for such a young man, who is fully aware [de seus atos]kill a person and get a penalty for the ECA [Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente] of a maximum of three years. This makes minors feel protected to commit crimes,” he criticizes. “We are not going to solve public safety problems with a PEC [de redução da maioridade penal]but it is important to curb the commission of crimes by young people”, he adds.