| Measure (2025) | Adolescents |
|---|
| Confinement (internação) | 8,124 |
| Pre-trial confinement (internação provisória) | 2,493 |
| Semi-liberty (semiliberdade) | 1,272 |
| Sanction confinement (internação sanção) | 314 |
| Total, excluding Minas Gerais | 12,203 |
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"The profile is narrow. According to the survey, 93.4 percent are boys, 73.7 percent identify as Black or brown, and 76.1 percent are aged 16 to 18. The most common offenses are robbery (29.1 percent) and drug trafficking (27.9 percent).\n\nThe long fall has stalled. The total rose 2.5 percent from 2023 to 2024 and 1.2 percent from 2024 to 2025. Pre-trial confinement rose 60.7 percent in the last year. The FBSP said the recent stability may hide growth, because Minas Gerais is missing.\n\nThe FBSP's researchers drew their own conclusion. They argued that 16- to 18-year-olds already account for more than three quarters of those confined, so they are already being punished. They also said the halving of the system leaves room to invest in quality rather than more places. That is the forum's view. The rapporteur's answer, in his November 4 remarks, is that teenagers who commit violent crimes now go \"completely unpunished.\"\n\n## The arguments, compared\n\nThe case for the amendment rests on accountability and public demand. Supporters such as Mendonça Filho say 16- and 17-year-olds who commit violent crimes now go unpunished. They point to polls showing large majorities in favor across party lines. The committee's agenda also includes requests to hear from families of young people killed by adolescents.\n\nThe case against rests on rights and evidence. Opponents argue that the age of 18 is an entrenched individual right that Congress cannot remove. They cite treaties Brazil has signed, the crowded adult prison system, and data showing most confined teenagers were held for robbery and trafficking rather than killings.\n\nBetween them sits the rapporteur's search for a middle path: adult trials for 16- and 17-year-olds, but separate juvenile prisons. Whether that design wins 308 votes, and whether it satisfies the Supreme Court, is the open question.\n\n## The path to a floor vote\n\nParty leaders have agreed that the committee should vote in November, CNN Brasil reported. Mendonça Filho has said he hopes for votes in the committee and on the Chamber floor by December. After the Chamber, the amendment would go to the Senate. Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) has said he is waiting for the Chamber to finish before the Senate takes it up.\n\nWhere Brazil's parties sit on economic and social questions more broadly is shown in the 567politics spectrum chart below. The positions are dated editorial estimates, reviewed on November 5, 2026, not measured scores.\n\n[Explore the political spectrum on 567politics](https://567politics.com/political-spectrum?country=brazil)","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}