The Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday (10) the admissibility of the PEC that provides for the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 years. To become law, the proposal must be approved by the plenary of both houses of Congress.
The text under debate modifies article 228 of the Constitution, which currently considers minors under the age of 18 to be criminally ineligible. If the PEC is approved in the next stages of Congress, young people aged 16 and 17 will be criminally liable as adults for crimes committed after the new rule comes into force.
What happens today
According to the rules in force, teenagers who commit infractions are subject to the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) and the measures provided for by the National Socio-Educational Service System (Sinase).
Punishments include warning, community service, assisted release, semi-release and hospitalization.
Even in the most serious cases, the legislation does not provide for prison sentences like those applied to adults. Internment has a maximum period of three years and must follow specific protection rules provided for in legislation aimed at children and youth.
The main change is that teenagers aged 16 and 17 would no longer be subjected exclusively to the socio-educational system. In practice, they would be held responsible for crimes in accordance with common criminal legislation, being prosecuted by the criminal justice system.
The proposal does not automatically change the situation of young people who currently comply with socio-educational measures. The new model would be valid for events occurring after the eventual promulgation of the constitutional amendment.
Child and youth crime
Data from the National Observatory of Human Rights (ObservaDH) show that 72,720 teenagers were apprehended for infractions in 2024.
The National Socio-Educational Service System registered 12,506 adolescents serving internment or semi-freedom measures in the same period.
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Although the numbers are often used in the debate on public security, experts note that less than 0.5% of Brazilian teenagers passed through the socio-educational system in 2024.
