Senate approves Public Security constitutional amendment proposal and leaves criminal age of majority out of the text

The Senate approved the Public Security constitutional amendment, known as the PEC da Segurança Pública, in both voting rounds. The measure turns the Unified Public Security System into a constitutional rule. It also expands cooperation among federal, state, and municipal authorities against organized crime. This matters because the framework will have constitutional status and supports broader national coordination.

The rejected addition concerned the criminal age of majority. Rogério Marinho wanted the age reduced to 16 generally and to 14 for heinous crimes. Camilo Santana proposed a narrower reduction, applying only to heinous crimes. The rapporteur, Rogério Carvalho, argued that both amendments should be separated from the PEC and considered independently.

The Senate approved that separation by 38 votes to 36. The amendment now goes directly to promulgation, since the Chamber had already approved it in March. The government also gained room to create a separate Ministry of Public Security. The age-of-majority proposals may still be debated in separate measures.

PEC stands for Proposta de Emenda à Constituição, or Proposed Amendment to the Constitution. It is the formal route for changing constitutional rules. That makes a PEC more consequential than an ordinary law, because approved provisions become part of the constitutional framework. In this case, the proposal constitutionalizes the Unified Public Security System and sets broader security powers and cooperation rules.

A PEC must pass through specific legislative stages, including approval in both houses. If the Senate changes a text already approved by the Chamber, the amended version normally returns to the Chamber for review. That is why the government wanted the criminal-age proposals kept outside this PEC. Adding them could have changed the text and reopened the process.

Here, the Senate approved the measure in two rounds without those additions. The Chamber had already approved the text in March. Therefore, the proposal goes directly to promulgation, meaning the approved constitutional text can be formally enacted without another Chamber vote.

The Senate’s key decision passed by only two votes. Senators approved the rapporteur’s request to separate the criminal-age amendments from the Public Security PEC by 38 votes to 36. That 38–36 result produced the exact margin that settled the dispute and allowed the main constitutional amendment to move forward.

The narrow vote reflected a broader political clash. Rogério Marinho, the opposition leader, wanted to include a reduction to age 16, and age 14 for heinous crimes. The PT responded with Camilo Santana’s narrower proposal, which would reduce the age only for heinous crimes. Rogério Carvalho argued that both matters should become separate proposals.

The result preserved the PEC’s existing text and prevented it from returning to the Chamber. Jaques Wagner said the decision also supported President Lula’s plan to create a Ministry of Public Security without waiting for another confrontation in the Chamber. The age issue remains separate from this amendment.

The amendment places the Unified Public Security System into the Constitution. Its central effect is to expand cooperation among the Union, Brazil’s states, and municipalities in combating organized crime. Constitutional recognition can give this shared system greater permanence and importance than a framework based only on ordinary legislation.

The text also creates several concrete mechanisms. It authorizes municipal police, expands the Federal Highway Police’s work to railways and waterways, and requires leaders of factions and militias to serve time in maximum-security prisons. It also allows the expropriation of assets connected to criminal activities and restricts sentence progression and provisional release for those leaders.

The article presents these changes as part of a broader national security structure. It does not describe detailed operating rules for every authority or explain how responsibilities will be divided in practice. The government is also preparing a provisional measure to split the Justice Ministry and create an exclusive Public Security Ministry.

A constitutional amendment must be approved by both legislative houses in the same form. The Chamber of Deputies had already approved the Public Security PEC in March. If the Senate inserted a new criminal-age provision, it would have altered the text under consideration rather than simply approving the existing version.

That change would require the Chamber to examine the revised wording. The Chamber could then debate and vote on the Senate’s version, creating another stage in the process. The possibility of that return was the central procedural reason for separating the age proposals from the security amendment.

President Lula supported reducing the age to 16 for heinous crimes but defended a separate vote. Jaques Wagner said the government wanted to avoid a new confrontation in the Chamber and keep the path open for creating a Ministry of Public Security. By removing the age issue, the Senate preserved the previously approved text and sent it to promulgation.

The criminal age of majority is the legal threshold for adult criminal responsibility. In Brazil, the current threshold is 18. A person below that age is not prosecuted under the adult criminal system. Instead, Brazilian law treats minors under a separate youth-justice framework, which can impose socio-educational measures rather than adult criminal penalties. This legal background is not explained in the article.

The dispute concerned whether that threshold should change. Rogério Marinho proposed reducing it to 16 generally and to 14 for heinous crimes. Camilo Santana offered a narrower alternative, applying a reduction only to heinous crimes. President Lula also expressed support for reducing it to 16 in heinous-crime cases.

None of those changes entered the approved PEC. The Senate followed Rogério Carvalho’s request to handle the proposals separately. They therefore did not alter the constitutional amendment approved in this vote, although the article indicates that the subject may still receive a separate legislative debate.

In Brazil’s federal system, policing is distributed among different levels of government. Federal authorities handle national interests and federal investigations, state governments operate the main civil and military police forces, and municipalities generally provide local security through municipal guards. These divisions come from Brazil’s constitutional structure, while the article focuses on improving cooperation among the three levels.

The amendment makes the Unified Public Security System a constitutional rule. It also expands cooperation among the Union, states, and municipalities against organized crime. Its text authorizes municipal police and broadens the Federal Highway Police’s work to railways and waterways. These provisions connect local, state, and federal capabilities within a wider security framework.

The practical effect will depend on implementation, which the article does not detail. Still, constitutional status can make the system more durable and harder to change through ordinary policy alone. The government is also preparing a provisional measure to create a separate Ministry of Public Security, potentially giving the federal structure a dedicated ministry.