The fifth panel of the 7th Lisbon Legal Forum, moderated by federal judge Débora Valle de Brito, focused on Criminal Enforcement and Penitentiary Crisis. Brazil's growing prison population was the focus of the speakers. The Forum is organized by the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in partnership with the Brazilian Institute of Public Law (IDP) and the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (FDUL).

The President of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Minister João Otávio de Noronha, expressed his concern about the increase in the number of women arrested. According to him, women now represent 5% of the prison population and the crime of drug trafficking is primarily responsible for arrests. The minister emphasized that women's incarceration has family consequences. “It is necessary to reinforce public policies for the protection of women. The change in the code alone is not sufficient to achieve the objective of providing a home for that child born in the womb of someone who committed a serious crime,” he said.

For the President of the STJ, Brazil needs to discuss education policies, especially for young people, to prevent them from being co-opted by organized crime. “We are not going to solve Brazil's security problem by modifying legislation. The security we seek is not within the purview of the Minister of Justice, but that of the Minister of Education,” he concluded.

The Federal Judge of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1), Ney de Barros Bello Filho, added data regarding the arrest of women. According to him, 62% of incarcerated women are in prison for crimes associated with crimes related to drug law. In his lecture, the judge also criticized the current incarceration model in Brazil. “Our model of combating trafficking generates crimes, generates crimes, because we end up incarcerating for a small amount of narcotics and transforming young people from the suburbs into an organized crime soldier. He goes to prison for the first time or the second time because of the use of the small drug trade and he leaves there necessarily as an organized crime soldier. And what would be potential trafficking in a large Brazilian or medium-sized city ends up becoming someone who will work with another, more aggressive crime”. This is a reality that needs to be analyzed. He emphasized that the country is generating human material for organized crime and for violent crime.

The Minister of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Tarcísio Vieira de Carvalho Neto, Doctor of Law from the University of São Paulo and Professor at the University of Brasília (UnB), reflected on the contribution of the electoral justice system to the reversal of the prison crisis. “Reducing, for example, the application of custodial sentences? Arresting less? Educating more? One wonders in a Brazil recently plunged into political and ethical crises whether it is appropriate for the electoral justice system to carry out arrests for electoral crimes considered trivial. It seems to me, of course, that the answer can only be the negative one,” he said.

Minister Tarcísio Vieira de Carvalho Neto also mentioned the Apacs (Association for the Protection and Assistance of Convicted Persons) as one of the alternatives to the current crisis in the prison system. In his opinion, they are humanized prison management models that have contributed to the reduction of vulnerability and recidivism. “Appropriate public policies are needed, based on reliable data, and more than ever we need a justice system that is increasingly creative, and increasingly aware of its social role,” he added.

The panel was also attended by Professor Luís Greco, Doctor of Law from Ludwig Maximilian University and Full Professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He presented data on the situation of the German prison system. The country's prison population is 46,000 people. “The Brazilian woman is 12 or 14 times better,” he compared. According to him, the percentage of prison sentences is 15% and of that total only 5% are executed.

Check out the Criminal Enforcement and Penitentiary Crisis panel at the VII Lisbon Legal Forum:

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