Brazil's 'bullets, beef and bible'

caucus wants to imprison 16-yearolds

Bolstered by rising resentment toward President Dilma
Rousseff, Jair Bolsonaro and other rightwing politicians want
to lower age of criminal responsibility

Bra
zilian legislator Jair Bolsonaro: the countrys social assistance programmes have encouraged irresponsible
paternity. Photograph: Fernando Bizerra Jr./EPA

Bruce Douglas in Rio de Janeiro-Friday 17 April 2015

Among Brazils weak and demoralised leftwing members of Congress, they

are known as the Bancada BBB: Bullets, Beef and Bible Caucus.
These conservative hardliners from Brazils security forces, agricultural

sector and evangelical churches triumphed in last Octobers legislative

elections, whilePresident Dilma Rousseff, of the leftwing Workers Party (PT),
only narrowly won re-election.
Over the past few months, the presidents authority has been undermined
by a massive corruption scandal, major street protests and the open revolt
of many of her former political allies.
With a survey this week showing that 63% of Brazilians would support
impeachment proceedings against her, an energised coalition of rightwing
deputies are attempting to impose their agenda on Congress.
Their long-term aims include liberalising Brazils gun laws and opening up
its indigenous territories to industry. But their first goal is to lower the age
of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16.
Under Brazils Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA), the maximum legal
punishment for someone ages 12-18 is three years internment in a juvenile
socio-educative detention centre. In theory, such a sentence is only
applicable in cases involving violence, though judges often interpret the law
to include drug-trafficking.
One of the prime movers behind the attempt to change the age of criminal
responsibility is Jair Bolsonaro, 60, a six-time federal deputy, who won more
votes than any other congressman in Rio de Janeiro in the 2014 elections.
Speaking to the Guardian at his house inside an immaculate gated
community in Rios upmarket suburb of Barra da Tijuca, Bolsonaro said: An
adolescent can rape and kill 200 people and he is still not treated like a
criminal in Brazil. Most minors know that if they are going to commit a
robbery, it is better to kill the victim as there is less chance of being caught,
and if they are, the punishment will be the same.
According to Unicef, however, Brazilian adolescents are far more likely to be
victims of crime than perpetrators: of the 21 million aged 12-17, just
0.013% committed murder, robbery with murder, rape or bodily harm, while
homicide was the cause of 36.5% of all adolescents deaths by non-natural
causes. Thirty-three thousand Brazilian adolescents were murdered in Brazil

from 2006 to 2012.

Brazilian adolescents are far more likely to be victims of crimes than

perpetrators, according to Unicef. Photograph: Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty
Images
Bolsonaros response to such statistics is to argue that PTs social
assistance programmes have encouraged irresponsible paternity. This
has created a generation of Brazilians who, sadly, have no future
whatsoever and who are prone to violence because of the lack of a
rigorous criminal justice system.
The former army captain, who hopes to run for the presidency in 2018, is
the indisputable poster child of the insurgent Brazilian right, and repeatedly
courts controversy with gratuitously offensive speeches.
On Tuesday he was ordered by a federal judge to pay R$150,000 (33,000)
in damages for homophobic comments he made on Brazilian TV in 2011. In
an interview with Playboy that same year he said he would rather his child
died in an accident than be gay.
He is also being sued by Maria do Rosrio, a former human rights minister
from the PT, after he described her, in Congress, as not worth raping.

Over 10 years earlier he had told her the same thing, at the end of a
televised discussion on the age of criminal responsibility.
While claiming he exaggerated a little over his comments to Playboy, he
was unrepentant over the comments to Do Rosrio. Who is tougher on
rape? I have presented two projects to Congress on the issue: first, to
strengthen the sentencing for rape; second, to offer chemical castration to
offenders. But the PT has blocked them both.
With over 550,000 inmates, Brazil has the worlds fourth-largest prison
population. More than 40% of those incarcerated are still awaiting trial. But
Bolsonaro believes prison is the best way to reduce the countrys extremely
high level of violent crime. I prefer a prison full of criminals than a
graveyard full of innocent people, he said.
On 31 March, the bill to lower the age of criminal responsibility passed its
first legislative hurdle. A Datafolha opinion poll published on Wednesday
showed that 87% of Brazilians are in favour of the bill. With such popular
and congressional support, Bolsonaro is confident that finally, after almost
two decades of trying, he will succeed. As soon as the law is passed, I will
put forward another constitutional amendment, to lower the age to 14, he
said.
However, even if Congress approves the bill, it would still require ratification
by the senate. It may also face obstacles in the supreme court. Earlier this
week President Rousseff used her Facebook feed to condemn the proposal.
Lowering the age of criminal responsibility will not solve the problem of
juvenile delinquency, she wrote, though she added that she had instructed
her justice minister to begin a debate over the ECA.
Even those opposed to a lowering of the age of criminal responsibility
question whether the three-year maximum sentence is sufficient.
Julita Lemgruber, a former director of Rio de Janeiros prison system, said
there was a debate to be had over extending the period of custody for
adolescents convicted of serious crimes. But she added the real issue was
the states failure to implement existing legislation.

The law is very clear on the services that should be provided to

adolescents when they are deprived of their liberty. But they never get
them. On the contrary, instead they are put into these filthy and
overcrowded places with nothing to do.
But Lemgruber is worried that Bolsonaro will get his way. The reality is that
the federal government is very vulnerable at the moment. Everything is
negotiable, she said.
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