Abstract
Between the 1980s and 1990s, Brazil experienced an era of expansion of childhood and adolescence protection networks, based on the adoption of paradigmatic legal frameworks, such as the Child and Adolescent Statute (1990). However, even before the enactment of the ECA, in 1989, a proposal for a constitutional amendment was presented to amend article 228, which deals with the minimum age for criminal liability. Since then, several social and political actors have endeavored to preserve in the public debate the space for a vision of the youth as a problem, demanding a solution through punitive measures. The purpose of this article is to analyze the speeches of the parliamentarians involved in the discussions of the PEC 171-93, known as the reduction of the penal age, approved in 2015 in the Chamber of Deputies. From the minutes of the plenary and special commissions of the CD, it is intended to understand how a perspective of youth as a source of violencewas formed in this space. Among the many arguments used by defenders of the measure, three stand out, to be discussed in greater depth: (1) changes in the understanding of young people in relation to 1940, when the penal code was drafted; (2) exemplarity of punishment and its effects on the organization of families; and (3) the possibility of offering a response to victims of violence committed by minors.
Keywords
criminal majority; speech; violence; punishment; legislative