Brazil Toughens Sexual-Crime Laws With Harsher Sentences and New Protections

Overview

• President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sanctioned Law No. 15.280/2025, published in the Diário Oficial da União, revising the Penal Code, criminal procedure, prison execution rules, the Child and Adolescent Statute, and the Disability Statute.
• Penalties rise across key offenses, with rape of a vulnerable person now carrying 10 to 18 years, 12 to 24 years with serious injury, and 20 to 40 years if the victim dies, while related crimes such as corruption of minors also see substantial increases.
• A new offense criminalizes breaching urgent protective measures with a prison term of 2 to 5 years, with bail in such cases only available by judicial decision.
• Judges gain expanded urgent tools that include removing aggressors, restricting contact, suspending firearm access, imposing compulsory electronic monitoring, issuing victim alert devices, and extending protections to anyone in a vulnerable situation, including limits on work that involves direct contact with vulnerable people.
• Procedural and enforcement changes mandate DNA collection for detained suspects and convicted offenders for sexual crimes, require electronic monitoring when eligible offenders leave prison, and condition sentence benefits on criminological evaluations indicating low risk of reoffending; platforms must remove notified content depicting sexual abuse of minors without a court order.