The opinion of Senate rapporteur Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE) for the Antifaction project redefines the axis of criminal policy by proposing sentences that can reach 120 years for faction leaders. The document was obtained by Folha de S. Paulo.
The text, which is scheduled to be voted on by the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) this Wednesday (3), creates specific types of criminal offenses and expands the legal bases for holding heads of criminal organizations that operate with territorial control and interstate operations accountable.
The proposal classifies factions within the Criminal Organizations Law and establishes a sentence of 15 to 30 years for anyone who integrates, finances, promotes or participates in these groups.
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For members considered leaders of the groups, the opinion creates the figure of a “qualified criminal faction”, whose set of aggravating factors can increase the punishment to 120 years, according to members of the rapporteur’s team. These crimes cannot receive amnesty, grace, pardon, bail or conditional release.
The text also equates private militias with factions for all legal purposes. Those convicted or detained preventively for these crimes, when there are elements that indicate individual or collective command, must serve their sentence in federal prisons.
The opinion also introduces a new crime: favoring a faction or militia, punishable by 8 to 15 years, which ranges from logistical support to the circulation of material that encourages entry into criminal organizations.
Several crimes, such as homicide, injury, robbery, extortion and embezzlement, have aggravated sentences when committed by members of factions or militias. The Chamber’s version, which had created a parallel law and criminal types such as Structured Social Domain, was scrapped in the Senate, under the argument of avoiding conflicts with current norms.
In addition to criminal hardening, the backbone of the opinion is the creation of a new source of funding for public security. The text establishes an exclusive portion of the National Public Security Fund destined to combat organized crime, supplied by an Intervention Contribution in the Economic Domain on betting houses (bets). According to estimates cited by the Central Bank in a public hearing, annual revenue could reach R$30 billion.
For Vieira, “this is the biggest investment in public security in history”, with the potential to change the State’s ability to repress factions and “return Brazil to Brazilians”.
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The resources will finance the construction and modernization of prisons, expansion of equipment and intelligence systems and reinforcement of integrated forces to combat organized crime.
The rapporteur also removed provisions considered unconstitutional, such as restrictions on assistance for relatives of prisoners and rules that eliminated the Jury Court in homicides committed by factions. The custody hearing should preferably take place via videoconference, but will be at the discretion of the courts.
The vote at the CCJ takes place amid political pressure. The approval of the Chamber’s version had already defeated Planalto, which tried to postpone the process due to disagreements in the content.
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Government supporters claim that part of the previous text favored factions, while the opposition demands tougher responses to the rise in crime. The Senate now decides whether to consolidate the tightening or make final adjustments before returning the proposal to the Chamber.
