Federal Senate decides to vote on Security PEC without discussing reducing the age of criminal responsibility

The Federal Senate will vote on the proposed amendment to the Public Security Constitution (PEC) without appreciating the highlights, from the PL and the PT, which deal with the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility. The decision was taken by the House plenary.

The PL's proposal is for the age of criminal responsibility to be reduced to 16 years in cases of less serious crimes, and to 14 years in heinous ones;

The PT's proposal reduces the age of majority to 16 only for heinous crimes, maintaining it for others.

In practice, the Federal Senate approved two requests that forward the two amendments presented to be processed separately from the Public Security PEC in the Senate.

The change was proposed by the PEC rapporteur in the Senate, senator Rogério Carvalho (PT-SE), in a victory for the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), which did not want to discuss the issue at this time.

The Senate will vote on the Public Security PEC in two rounds. If approved, the text must be promulgated by the National Congress itself.

Despite working to reject the PL's prominence, the government indicated that it is in favor of discussing reducing the age of majority to 16 in cases of heinous crimes, differently from what was foreseen in the PL proposal.

The government base, however, wants this discussion to be carried out in its own PEC, which is already under analysis in the Chamber of Deputies.

The strategy is to approve the text this year and avoid analysis with a majority of PL senators from 2027 onwards.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) conditions the creation of the Ministry of Public Security to the approval of the PEC in Congress.

What the text says

The PEC includes in the Constitution the Unified Public Security System (SUSP), which seeks to integrate and coordinate the work of the country's different security forces, such as the federal and state police, to strengthen the fight against organized crime.

According to the text, the Union, the states and the Federal District will be able to create laws on public security. Topics include the joint action of security forces from different governments, the organization of police and municipal guards and the measures applied to teenagers who commit criminal acts.

The PEC also foresees measures to reinforce the fight against violent crimes and the actions of criminal factions.

Among the measures envisaged is the obligation to serve the sentence in maximum security prisons or in special prison units.

The text also prohibits or restricts benefits such as regime progression, which allows the prisoner to move to a less rigorous regime, provisional release, with or without payment of bail, and temporary release from prison.

The PEC also allows public authorities to confiscate assets, rights and values ​​linked to criminal activities. The measures apply to criminal organizations, paramilitary groups and private militias.