Does fighting crime involve reducing the age of criminal responsibility?
Businessman Leonardo Bortoletto and CNN commentator José Eduardo Cardozo debated, on Friday (12), in O Grande Debate (from Monday to Friday, at 11pm), whether the "fight against crime involves reducing the age of criminal responsibility?"
The PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) which proposes reducing the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 years old was approved by the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) of the Chamber of Deputies by 44 votes to 18, after intense debates between parliamentarians. The proposal now goes for analysis in a special committee before reaching the House plenary.
The measure provides that teenagers aged 16 and 17 accused of heinous crimes - such as murder, rape and robbery - will face criminal charges and may be sentenced to prison. Currently, minors under 18 are subject only to socio-educational measures.
José Eduardo Cardozo took a strong stance against reducing the age of criminal responsibility, presenting arguments on three different fronts. From a legal point of view, he stated that the current rule in the Constitution constitutes an immutable clause and, therefore, cannot be changed by constitutional amendment.
"If the National Congress were to do so, inevitably the Federal Supreme Court, unanimously or by a huge majority of votes, would declare this PEC unconstitutional", he declared. According to him, only a new Constitution could promote such a change.
Cardozo highlighted that Brazilian prisons are already absolutely overcrowded. "Which prison will these teenagers be placed in?" he asked. He also warned that the construction of new prisons takes an average of five years and requires huge resources, which would need to be taken from other areas, such as education.
"The Brazilian prison system will become uncontrollable, even more so than it already is", he warned, recalling that he had already made this warning in a public hearing in the Chamber of Deputies. Cardozo classified the movement as "penal populism", stating that parliamentarians recognized the irrationality of the measure, but feared losing votes by opposing it.
Leonardo Bortoleto defended with equal conviction the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility, recognizing the limitations of the Brazilian prison system, but arguing that inertia in the face of crime is not an acceptable alternative.
For him, Brazil faces a reality in which criminal organizations deliberately recruit young people because they know that they will not be prosecuted with the same rigor applied to adults. "Crime recruits young people because it knows that they will not be prosecuted with the same rigor as an adult", he stated.
Bortoleto acknowledged that incarcerating young people aged 16 and 17 is an extreme measure, but maintained that many of these teenagers are already veterans of crime, having been co-opted by criminal organizations at the age of 10.
"There is no doubt that it is not even a pleasant solution to imprison a 16 and 17 year old Brazilian. Now, we cannot close our eyes to a reality that is the country's," he declared. According to him, reducing the age of criminal responsibility could, paradoxically, protect teenagers themselves, by discouraging early recruitment into organized crime.
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Source: CNN