Protests break out in Rio against lower legal age
In Rio, the protest sites were decorated with posters and banners
Activists and students occupied squares in downtown Rio late on Tuesday (Apr. 28) to protest against a proposed constitutional amendment in Congress to lower the age of criminal responsibility in Brazil from 18 to 16 years old. The “Awakening against a lower age of criminal responsibility” campaign listed more than 300 scheduled events in their their web page and staged protests in several states organized on social media.
In Rio, the protest sites were decorated with posters and banners especially displaying colorful kites, the main symbol of the campaign. “Many tend to oversimplify this debate and say prisons are the solution. However, figures and studies show that the number of offenses and killings committed by people under 18 years is minimal. So [lowering this age threshold] is clearly not the way to go,” said Professor Nathalie Drummond, who ed the protests.
“Brazil has one of the world's largest prison populations, and most of these people are black, poor, and socially excluded. Punitivism is a mistake. If we want to change this reality, we need to focus on transformative learning rather than further criminalizing the youth,” said another protester, Law student Humberto de Matos. Racial issues were also raised by student Rafael Acioli: “Brazil can only advance through education not incarceration. Lowering the age of responsibility will further increase the number of incarcerated blacks,” he said.
“We must take a stance now that we're being ruled by an extremely conservative Congress that is pushing such a retrogressive agenda as this legal age issue. This is harmful to our youth, they don't need more jails, they need more schooling,” said Social Science student Natália Trindade.
For David Miranda, “the Congress is trying to this law because it's way easier to put our young people in jail and rid the government of dealing with the lack of education and culture in the slums. Our prison system is already trashed enough. There are half a million old age people in overcrowded prisons. If this law es, our youth will lose any prospects for a better future by going to jail only to become skilled criminals,” he said.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Protests break out in Rio against lower legal age
