Criminal
1940 Código Penal with the 2019 Pacote Anticrime reforms
The Código Penal of 1940 and the Código de Processo Penal of 1941 remain the core statutes, heavily amended since. Lei 13.964/2019, the Pacote Anticrime, introduced the juiz das garantias to separate the judge who supervises the investigation from the judge who tries the case, and put the plea-style acordo de não persecução penal on a statutory footing. Custody hearings within 24 hours of arrest are mandatory.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Federal criminal law tried in state courts unless federal interests engage
- Deadline — Custody hearing (audiência de custódia): within 24 hours of arrest
- Deadline — Preventive detention: reviewed by the court every 90 days
- Deadline — Habeas corpus: available at any time and decided as a priority
Governing law
- Decreto-Lei 2.848/1940 - Código Penal
- Decreto-Lei 3.689/1941 - Código de Processo Penal
- Lei 13.964/2019Pacote Anticrime
- Lei 11.340/2006Lei Maria da Penha
In practice
Most prosecutions are brought by the Ministério Público, which holds a near-monopoly on public criminal action, and are tried in state courts; federal courts take offences against federal assets, interstate drug trafficking and crimes with an international dimension. The acordo de não persecução penal allows the prosecutor to agree conditions without a conviction where the offence carries a minimum sentence below four years and no violence was used.