Criminal adulthood is the minimum age at which a person can be criminally tried for their actions as an adult. In Brazil, and in several countries around the world, the criminal adulthood starts from 18 years of age.
Also known as criminal majority, this is considered a dividing line in how the treatment of a given act should be judged. For individuals who are older than the age established by the criminal majority, the entire trial process is governed by the laws of the Penal Code of the country.
Minors, however, if they comment on illegal acts, must be tried and punished in accordance with the legislation of the Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA).
The criminal age of majority does not need to be directly related to the civil age, and in some countries the minimum age to criminally punish an individual is lower than the legal age to vote, drive, work and etc.
Each country can set the minimum age of criminal majority, but the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) advises 18 years, because supposedly, according to social and biological criteria, until this age the individual is in the process of development.
Criminal age of majority and criminal liability
One should not confuse criminal legality with criminal liability. Young people, from the age of 12, can already answer for infractions, however, following a socio-educational line.
The purpose of punishment for individuals under the age of 18 is not to make them suffer for crimes that committed, but rather to help prepare the young person for adult life, helping him to start over in a more worthy.
Legal age of majority in Brazil
In Brazil, criminal majority is 18 years of age, according to what is established by the Federal Constitution of 1988 in article 288.
Article 27 of the Penal Code makes it clear that "children under the age of eighteen are criminally non-imputable, subject to the rules established in the special legislation". Therefore, minors under 18 years of age are subject to the rules established in the Statute of Children and Adolescents.
Reduction of criminal minorities in Brazil
However, in recent years, the Constitutional Amendment Project (PEC) 171/93, gained the attention of politicians and a large portion of the Brazilian population. The proposal of the PEC is to reduce the minimum age of criminal majority of 18 to 16 years old.
This is a big discussion that divides the country into two streams of thought. On one side are people who advocate the "hardening" of the judiciary, in an attempt to punish young criminals for their actions as adults.
On the other side are the citizens who find it more plausible to invest in improving the socio-educational system to help minors to leave the criminal world and rejoin society.
Opponents of the reduction proposal still claim that the current Brazilian prison system would not help to correct the problem of violence, with prisons being considered "schools of crime" and not centers of rehabilitation.
The main arguments in favor of reduction of criminal age are as follows:
- The measures provided for in the ECA are not enough to educate and recover the youth who commits a crime.
- Adolescents are used by criminal organizations, as the penalties applied to minors are lighter.
- Young people aged 16 or 17 are already critically aware enough to know what a crime is.
already the arguments against reduction they are:
- It is not the imprisonment of more young people that reduces crime levels, it is the investment in education and work.
- The reduction in the age of majority is contrary to the provision of protection for young people contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Brazil already has a prison overcrowding problem that will become even more serious with the increase in the number of prisons.
Age of penal age in the world
In most countries the criminal majority is at 18 years of age. However, there are regions that have different rules. See what ages are considered in some countries:
- United States: 12 years (in most American states),
- Canada: 14 years old (for serious crimes),
- Turkey: 15 years old,
- Estonia: 17 years old,
- Austria: 19 years old.
See also the meanings of Age of majority, age of majority and Criminal Code.