Brazil: We warn against proposals to lower the age of criminal responsibility

On 3 November 2026, the Brazilian Federal Senate approved a procedural move allowing amendments seeking to lower the age of criminal responsibility to proceed separately from a broader constitutional reform on public security. This development raises serious concerns about the possible acceleration of legislative proposals that would expose adolescents to the adult criminal justice system.

We alert that such measures would undermine Brazil's constitutional protections for children and adolescents and risk violating its international human rights obligations. Against the backdrop of longstanding overcrowding, institutional violence and allegations of torture in Brazilian prisons, transferring adolescents into the adult criminal justice system would place them at heightened risk of serious human rights abuses.

These proposals also raise concerns about their disproportionate impact on Black adolescents and young people from marginalised communities, who are already overrepresented in Brazil's juvenile justice system.

We call on the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate to reject these proposals, uphold the age of criminal responsibility at 18, and strengthen specialised juvenile justice mechanisms, with a focus on education, violence prevention, and social reintegration.

Read the full open letter in English.

Read the original version of the letter in Portuguese.