Precariousness of the prison system enters the debate on the age of criminal responsibility

Two parliamentary committees of the Chamber of Deputies dedicated simultaneous public hearings this Wednesday (11) to discuss Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) 32/2015, which deals with lowering the age of criminal responsibility. One of them is a special committee on the topic launched on Tuesday (10). The other body that examined the matter was the Chamber's Public Security and Fight Against Organized Crime Committee. Both hearings received jurists, lawyers, public security workers, and representatives of the federal government and the Public Prosecutor's Office. Among the statements of many guests, both opposed to and in favor of the measure, there was at least one common argument: placing a 16-year-old adolescent in an adult prison does not solve the public security problem, and could create others. Among them, handing more manpower to criminal factions. Chico Lucas, National Secretary of Public Security at the Ministry of Justice, expressed concern about placing adolescents convicted of lesser offenses to serve their sentences in an adult prison, where criminal factions are present. "When the reduction is discussed, it will not be only for violent and property crimes, it will be for the entire criminal legislation," he told the Chamber's Public Security Committee. "Mass incarceration may represent the possibility that these adolescents, punished for the most diverse crimes, while serving sentences in facilities alongside adults, may serve as maneuvering mass for criminal leaders," he added. Criminal defense lawyer Francisco Alminhana, who favors lowering the age of criminal responsibility, suggested including transition rules for the young person convicted of a crime. "There is no point in simply throwing these young people into jail, where they will spend many years serving their sentences, and forgetting that they will come back. And if they come back in a bad condition, we here will be victims again." The lawyer also questioned the prison system's ability to resocialize these young people. "What protection does this minor have inside an adult prison? None. If the State itself cannot control the prisons, a large portion of which are dominated by organized crime." Another voice in the same direction was that of the PEC's own rapporteur. Representative Mendonça Filho (PL-PE) is convinced about lowering the age of criminal responsibility and, as he announced, will deliver a report to that effect. But he defends a separate prison facility. "I agree that the Brazilian prison system has been run down for a long time, it has become the crime's office. One of the premises I have publicly defended is that the constitutional change regarding the age of criminal responsibility must take into account serving sentences in a facility separate from the prisons for those over 18." The representative's position is not new. He has already been defending such a measure, which should be included in the final report. Ineffectiveness Representatives of the federal government and the Public Prosecutor's Office presented data that relativize the effectiveness of the measure. For the National Secretary of Penal Policies at the Ministry of Justice, André Garcia, 16- and 17-year-old juvenile offenders being imprisoned as adults will not make cities safer. According to Garcia, there are currently 12.2 thousand minors serving socio-educational measures of internment or semi-liberty. On the other hand, there are 727 thousand adults imprisoned. And when it comes to heinous crimes, he pointed out, their commission by minors under 18 does not reach 2% of cases. "At the same time, it is important not to remain indifferent to the suffering of the victims," he pondered at the Public Security Committee. He defended the debate for a change in legislation. For him, this is a smaller percentage, which will not, from a practical standpoint, make a difference in public security policy. "The Brazilian citizen will not be safer because of this. But it is necessary to recognize the legitimacy of this debate and recognize that these infractions committed with gravity, such as rapes, homicides, latrocínios, femicides, and torture; that there be an application of the penalty, which I today consider insufficient." Representative of the National Council of Attorneys General (CNPG) and the National Association of Members of the Public Prosecutor's Office (CONAMP), Daniele Tuoto pointed out at the special committee that a change in the accountability provided for in the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) could bring the effectiveness desired by the population. As she explained, any infraction committed by a minor carries the same provision for internment time. Whether it is a homicide or bodily injury, it is 6 months to 3 years of internment. "These acts of extreme gravity can be rediscussed within childhood and youth. You would keep the adolescents in the socio-educational system, with expertise, protection, with a technical team, with courses and everything we have to offer in a facility. And there would be no need to place them in the prison system." "Lives matter" While defending the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility, Mendonça Filho highlighted the importance of punishing homicide, which he called "the worst of crimes." "Regardless of age group, taking the life of another person is the worst of crimes. 'All lives matter,'" said the rapporteur, erroneously attributing the phrase to the Black movement of the United States. The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in 2013 in the United States, after the acquittal of a white man who had killed a Black teenager. However, it gained global repercussion after the death of George Floyd, a Black man, in a police approach that occurred in 2020 in the American city of Minneapolis. In response, right-wing and far-right movements in the United States launched "All Lives Matter," with the intention of minimizing the problem of racism and, in the specific case, of violence by white police officers against Black men in the United States.