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[27 April 2007] - A legislative commission on Thursday approved a proposed amendment to the Brazilian constitution which would reduce the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16. The proposal was passed by 12 votes to 10 by members of the Senate’s Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Commission, and must now be passed on for debate by 81 senators then to the 513 members of parliament. The proposed amendment concerns serious crimes such as murder and torture, among others, explained the Senate in a press release. The current constitution – passed in 1988 – provides for a separate justice system and detention centres for children under 18. It is part of a package of measures which have been discussed since the beginning of 2006 to deal with a wave of unprecedented attacks by criminal gangs in the city of Sao Paulo, in which almost 200 people have died. By the end of 2006, Rio de Janeiro had also become a target for these violent crimes, leaving 19 people dead, eight of whom were burned alive in a bus. Some of the crimes were committed by children, according to the authorities. The debate and the vote by the Commission gives a foretaste of the discussion in the other chambers, for which a date is yet to be set. Senator Serys Slhessarenko, from the Workers’ Party (PT), has pointed out that these young people who commit crimes “are already punished by being excluded from society,” she criticised those who want to punish them even more. Further information