The Senate Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) approved this Wednesday (8) definitively the Bill (PL) 425/2024which toughens the penalty for committing the crime of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. If there is no appeal for voting in plenary, the proposal goes to the Chamber of Deputies for analysis.
Previously, the matter had been approved by the Human Rights Commission (CDH). The project changes the Penal Code. At the moment, The penalty for the crime is four to ten years in prison. The project increases the punishment to six to 12 years in prison.
The project’s rapporteur, Senator Eliziane Gama (PSD-MA), argued that the project corrects distortions in the practical application of the sentence, since the current sanctioning level still allows, in cases of unequivocal gravity, the establishment of an initial open regime and the replacement of the custodial sentence with a restriction of rights.
“With the increase, the criminal type begins to reflect more appropriately the severity of the conduct, ensuring greater effectiveness in protecting the sexual dignity of people in conditions of hypervulnerability,” he stated.
Eliziane also pointed out that the increase in the penalty also has a dissuasive nature.
“The sexual exploitation of minors and vulnerable people, often carried out systematically and for profit, constitutes one of the most serious violations of human rights and demands a reprimand compatible with its social harm,” he said.
“The increase in the sentence contributes to reducing incentives for the practice, giving greater effectiveness to criminal prosecution and harmonizing the internal system with the international commitments assumed by Brazil, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol relating to the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography”, he argued.
