Law expands punishment for online sexual crimes against children; understand

Law No. 15,487 comes into force this Friday (7) and amends the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA), the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Heinous Crimes Law and the Law to Combat Organized Crime to toughen the criminal treatment applied to perpetrators of these crimes.

Among the main changes, the legislation expands the possibilities for investigating sexual crimes committed over the internet. The new law authorizes virtual patrols by security agencies in order to identify and collect files made available in public digital environments.

The activity does not require prior judicial authorization. The rule also reinforces the role of police officers undercover on the internet to investigate crimes.

Artificial intelligence

The text goes on to explicitly consider the use of artificial intelligence technologies in crimes related to child sexual violence.

The legislation increases penalties for authors who use resources such as deepfakes, filters or other tools capable of altering images and voices to impersonate children or teenagers and entice victims.

Furthermore, there will be an increased penalty for criminals who employ digital anonymization mechanisms, such as hiding or falsifying IP addresses and other identifiers, with the aim of making identification difficult by authorities.

In relation to illegal material, the law expands the definition of content of sexual violence against children and adolescents to include real or fictional representations produced, manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence when they have sexual connotations.

Assistance to victims

The new law guarantees children and adolescents who are victims or witnesses of sexual violence the right to specialized, continuous and comprehensive psychological and psychosocial care. Support must consider the emotional impacts resulting from the permanent circulation of images and videos on the internet, including on international platforms.

The text also determines that victims receive care in health services from the Unified Health System (SUS) in an environment that guarantees privacy and protection against access by unauthorized people, especially the aggressor.

Furthermore, the perpetrator of violence will be obliged to fully reimburse the costs of the victim's treatment, including the services provided by the SUS.

Heinous crimes and preventive detention

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

The text also provides for the possibility of preventive detention for crimes against sexual dignity committed against minors and for offenses covered by the ECA related to child sexual exploitation.

The legislation also toughens the consequences for members of criminal organizations involved in crimes against children and adolescents and reinforces measures for the loss of assets and values obtained through criminal activity.

More severe penalties

The legislation increases punishments for several crimes provided for in the ECA:

Production of sexual violence content against children or adolescents (Art. 240 of the ECA)

penalty: imprisonment of 4 to 10 years and fine; applies to anyone who produces, reproduces, directs, photographs, films or records the content; finances, recruits, facilitates or mediates the victim's participation; displays or transmits the content live over the internet.

Sale of child sexual violence material (Art. 241 of the ECA)

penalty: imprisonment of 4 to 10 years and fine; also provides for the loss of assets and values obtained through criminal activity; increase in penalty: an additional 1/3 if the sale occurs via the internet, social networks or other digital technologies.

Disclosure, sharing or publication of material (Art. 241-A of the ECA)

penalty: imprisonment of 4 to 10 years and fine; applies to anyone who creates, manages or hosts digital environments intended for storing or sharing this content; penalty increase: plus 1/3 if the material is published on more than one digital platform.

Possession, storage or request of material (Art. 241-B of the ECA)

penalty: imprisonment of 3 to 6 years and fine; will be applied to anyone who accesses or views content on digital platforms for sexual purposes; penalty reduction: from 1/6 to 1/3 when there is a small amount of material.

Simulation of sexual violence using AI or deepfake (Art. 241-C of the ECA)

penalty: imprisonment of 3 to 5 years and fine. covers images, videos or representations produced by montage, tampering or artificial intelligence.

Grooming, harassment or embarrassment of minors under 14 (Art. 241-D of the ECA)

penalty: imprisonment of 3 to 5 years and fine; includes harassment to commit a lewd act or to obtain images and videos of a sexual nature.

The penalty increases from 1/3 to 2/3 when the crime is committed:

using artificial intelligence, deepfake or filters; through fake profiles or digital anonymization; through messaging applications, social networks or online games; through promising benefits to the victim; taking advantage of a relationship of trust, authority or dependence.

Sexual exploitation of children or adolescents (Art. 244-A of the ECA)

The crime remains punishable by imprisonment for 4 to 10 years and a fine, as per the wording already provided for in the Statute. The new law expands investigation mechanisms and worsening criminal treatment.

Use of digital anonymization to make identification difficult (Art. 226-A of the ECA)

Penalty increase from 1/3 to 2/3 for sexual crimes, when the perpetrator uses:

VPNs for the purpose of criminal concealment; IP masking; forgery or concealment of digital identifiers; other techniques to prevent your identification.

Crimes considered heinous The law now classifies various conducts related to:

production of child sexual violence material; sale of material; disclosure and sharing; possession and arm