Bullying is now a crime: understand how the new law will work in practice.
With the approval of the new Law 14.811/2024, the penalties for bullying have now become clearer. Understand what the legislation determines and in which cases children can be held responsible.
From now on, anyone who commits bullying or cyberbullying can be fined or even imprisoned. On January 15, Congress passed Law 14.811/2024. Thanks to this approval, cases like this will now be seen as a crime by the courts.
Previously, Brazilian legislation did not establish a specific punishment for this type of conduct. With the new law, the rules have become clearer. "This makes it easier for public authorities, such as the police, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Judiciary, to classify the incident as criminal," explains lawyer Rafael Valentini, who specializes in criminal law and procedure and is a partner at FVF Advogados in São Paulo.
In other words, the new law makes it easier for the authorities to work and investigate. When it didn't exist yet, people who committed bullying could also be punished. But since there was no specific rule in the law for this type of behavior, the authorities had to "juggle" to fit the case into other types of crime, such as insult, threat, bodily injury...
With the approval of Law 14.811/2024, everything has changed. Now, cases of bullying have also been included in the Penal Code and have well-established penalties: the offender can be punished with a fine or two to four years in prison if the crime is committed online.
The exceptions to the rule
When we talk about bullying, we are talking about cases that can manifest themselves in very different ways. They can involve physical, verbal, psychological aggression, threats, insults... And this peculiarity is taken into account when the authorities decide what the penalty will be.
Bullying is a crime that can carry with it other types of crime as well. When this happens, the interpretation of the law can change. The initial penalty provided for in the Penal Code (a fine or imprisonment of up to 4 years) may no longer apply.
"The new law is very clear in the sense that the perpetrator will be held responsible for the crime of bullying 'if the conduct does not constitute a more serious crime'. Since the penalty for bullying is only a fine, any other crime that carries a penalty of detention or imprisonment will already be considered more serious," says lawyer Rafael Valentini. In practice, this means that when there is more than one crime, the penalties are accumulated - the authorities will consider the penalty for the most serious crime committed.
Most cases of bullying and cyberbullying take place at school or on the internet. Consequently, many of the targets and perpetrators are minors. However, this does not mean that they will get away with it if they commit this type of violence.
Children and teenagers can also be held responsible if they commit bullying. The rule laid down in Law 14.811/2024 does not only apply to adults. The difference is the way the situation is dealt with by the authorities. Under the law, minors do not commit crimes. They commit "acts of infraction" and, instead of being tried by the ordinary courts, they are tried by the Juvenile Court.
"In the case of adolescents over the age of 12, the penalties can be probation (i.e. freedom subject to compliance with certain conditions imposed by the judge), community service and, at the extreme, internment (equivalent to imprisonment for adults)," explains Valentini.
In the case of children under 12, the protocol is different. Children can be included in family protection, support and promotion programs or even referred for psychological or psychiatric care. It all depends on each case and the interpretation of the authorities.
No matter how serious the case of bullying, only the minor is held responsible. The child's parents and legal guardians do not have to answer for their child's behavior. According to the expert, the family can only be held criminally responsible if it is shown that they directly and effectively collaborated in the bullying, such as encouraging violence, for example.
How to report cases of bullying and cyberbullying
In order for the authorities to investigate and punish bullying situations, you need to report it. If it happens to your child, go to the nearest police station or public prosecutor's office and report the situation.
Although the word of the child who has been targeted is valuable to the authorities, the logic goes: the more material evidence the family can gather, the better. This could be audio recordings, videos, witness statements, medical reports... It all counts.
Now, if the bullying has taken place on the internet, care must be taken. Collect evidence, such as screenshots, photos, emails and documents that can prove the allegations, before they are deleted by the perpetrators. Then, ideally, file a complaint with the platform where the content was published. "Nowadays there are tools for this and the more people who report it, the quicker the content is taken down and the damage stopped. Then, with the evidence, the user should go to the police station in their region to file the complaint," explains lawyer Marcelo Mattoso, a partner in the Games area at Barcellos Tucunduva Advogados (BTLAW), in São Paulo.
