President Luiz Inácio Lula da Solva on Monday approved the bill that toughens penalties for sexual offenses against minors and creates new prevention and accountability measures. The text was approved by the Senate in November, the last step before passing presidential sanction.
“There will be no impunity for crimes against the sexual dignity of children, adolescents, the elderly and vulnerable people. Today I sanctioned Law No. 15,280/2025, which strengthens measures for the prevention and repression of these crimes and extends the protection mechanisms for victims and their families,” Lula said on social media.
The proposal, authored by former senator Margareth Buzetti (MT), is seen as a “package” to combat sex crimes. The bill increases penalties for different types of abuse, determines the mandatory use of electronic ankle bracelets for convicts on provisional release and imposes liability on technology companies that do not remove content from the Internet containing scenes of rape or sexual exploitation of minors.
Today, the Penal Code provides for sexual crimes against vulnerable persons with penalties ranging, in general, from 8 to 12 years in prison for the rape of a vulnerable person and from 12 to 30 years in the event of the death of the victim. Other crimes related to sexual exploitation carry lesser penalties, some with minimum terms of two or three years.
The project being approved, the sanctions become significantly heavier and the text creates a new scale of severity:
See what it looks like today and what the project looks like:
- Rape of a vulnerable person: increased from 8 to 15 years to 10 to 18 years in prison.
- Rape causing serious bodily harm: increased from 10 to 20 years to 12 to 24 years.
- Rape with death: ranges from 12 to 30 years to 20 to 40 years.
- Corruption of minors: increased from 2 to 5 years to 6 to 14 years.
- Carrying out a sexual act in the presence of a minor under 14 years old: 2 to 4 years becomes 5 to 12 years.
- Sexual exploitation of children under 18 years old: 4 to 10 years old becomes 7 to 16 years old.
- Offer, transmit or sell rape scenes: from 1 to 5 years to 4 to 10 years.
- Offering, transmitting or selling rape scenes: from 4 to 10 years.
The bill also authorizes the judge to apply protective measures – such as removing the aggressor, restricting visits and prohibiting the victim from approaching – if there is evidence of sexual crimes against children, adolescents, the elderly or people with disabilities.
During a criminal execution, those convicted of femicide and sex crimes will have to wear an electronic ankle bracelet when they leave prison. In addition, the text includes the mandatory collection of DNA from defendants and provides that Internet service providers remove, upon notification, content that violates the rights of children and adolescents, without the need for a court decision.
The project also amends the Child and Adolescent Status (ECA) to provide medical and psychological treatment to victims’ families and educational campaigns against the use of corporal punishment and degrading practices. Actions must involve schools, health units, guardianship councils and civil society organizations.
According to the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook 2025, in 2024, almost 19,000 cases of rape and rape of vulnerable people were recorded and more than 7,000 cases of scenes of sexual abuse were made public.
The project was approved by the Senate in July, but returned to the Chamber after modifications made by the Chamber of Deputies, where it was reported by deputy delegate Katarina (PSD-SE). Last week, Senator Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF), rapporteur at the Commission on Human Rights (CDH), reinstated provisions deleted by deputies.
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