Brazil has now stricter regulations to combat crimes of sexual violence against children and adolescents, including in digital environments and through the use of artificial intelligence.

A new law takes effect this Friday (Aug. 7), amending Brazil’s Statute of the Child and Adolescent – known as ECA – as well as a number of related criminal codes and acts, in order to impose harsher criminal penalties on the perpetrators of these offenses.

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Among the key changes, the legislation expands the scope for investigating sex crimes committed online. It authorizes law enforcement agencies to conduct online patrols to identify and collect files made available in public digital environments.

This activity does not require prior judicial authorization. The law also strengthens the role of undercover police officers online in investigating crimes.

Artificial intelligence

The new law explicitly addresses the use of AI in crimes related to child sexual violence. It increases penalties for perpetrators who use tools such as deepfakes, filters, or other means capable of altering images and voices to impersonate children or adolescents and groom victims.

In addition, there will be increased penalties for criminals who employ digital anonymization mechanisms – such as concealing or falsifying IP addresses and other identifiers – with the aim of hindering identification by authorities.

Regarding illegal material, the law broadens the definition of content depicting sexual violence against children and adolescents to include real or fictional depictions produced, manipulated, or generated by AI when they have sexual connotations.

Care for victims

The new law guarantees children and adolescents who are victims or witnesses of sexual violence the right to specialized, ongoing, and comprehensive psychological and psychosocial care. This support must take into account the emotional impacts resulting from the constant circulation of images and videos on the internet, including on international platforms.

The law also stipulates that victims must be provided care at health facilities within the country’s national health care system, the SUS, in an environment that ensures privacy and protection against access by unauthorized persons – especially the perpetrator.

In addition, the perpetrator will be required to fully reimburse the costs of the victim’s treatment, including services provided by the SUS.

Heinous crimes and preventive detention

The law also expands the list of crimes considered heinous, including various acts related to the production, dissemination, possession, and solicitation involving sexual violence against children and adolescents.

It also includes the possibility of preventive detention for crimes against sexual dignity committed against minors and for offenses under the ECA related to the sexual exploitation of children.

Furthermore, the legislation also imposes harsher penalties on members of criminal organizations involved in crimes against children and adolescents and strengthens measures for the forfeiture of assets and proceeds obtained through criminal activity.

Pregnancy during childhood or adolescence interrupted the education of six out of ten (61%) young women interviewed in a study entitled Marcas do Tempo: Gravidez na Infância ou Adolescência e seus Impactos na Vida de Mulheres no Brasil (“Traces of Time: Pregnancy in Childhood or Adolescence and Its Impacts on the Lives of Women in Brazil”), conducted by the NGO Plan Brasil.

The study surveyed over 1,500 women aged 19 to 29 from all regions of Brazil and compared two groups – those who became pregnant during childhood or adolescence and those who did not. In the case of interrupted education, the percentage drops to 33 percent among the second group.

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Pregnancy during childhood or adolescence is a turning point that exacerbates inequalities that already existed even before the pregnancy, Plan Brasil CEO Cynthia Betti noted.

“The data show that these girls face barriers that compound one another, be it in education, health, the labor market, or the exercise of their most basic rights,” she said.

Eight out of ten respondents (83%) also reported having left a job or missed a career opportunity because they needed to care for their children.

According to the survey results, even when starting from similar backgrounds, young women who became pregnant during childhood or adolescence face greater disadvantages throughout their lives.

In the study, 73 percent reported having been discriminated against because of their pregnancy, whether within their family, at school, or in health care settings.

This prejudice appears repeatedly in the responses, with descriptions of judgmental attitudes regarding these young women’s intellectual, moral, and professional capabilities.

Teenage marriage

The study also shows that 59 percent of young women who became pregnant before age 19 went on to marry or enter a domestic partnership shortly after their first pregnancy.

The study further identifies a 19-percentage-point increase in the likelihood of marriage before age 16 among these young women.

The data also show that, among young women who became pregnant before age 14, half (50%) did not have access to legal abortion services, even though Brazilian law classifies pregnancy in this age group as statutory rape.

In Betti’s view, these young women did not just lose a job or a year of schooling; they lost the chance to choose their own paths at the very moment they most needed that autonomy.

“Reversing this situation requires the implementation, monitoring, and funding of integrated public policies focused on prevention – not isolated responses. Listening to these stories is what allows us to transform statistics into a public commitment,” she argued.

Recommendations

The study lists recommendations ranging from ensuring rights-based sex education and unhindered access to contraceptive methods to access to daycare centers with hours compatible with study and work schedules.

The study also highlights the importance of combating obstetric violence and contraceptive coercion, as well as first-job policies aimed at young mothers.