Analysis of Bill 5,582/2025: Innovations in Combating Gangs and Structured Criminality

Bill No. 5,582/2025 represents one of the most relevant proposals for updating the criminal and criminal procedural legal framework aimed at combating organized crime in Brazil.

The initiative arises in a context of increasing sophistication of criminal structures and the expansion of illicit activities into digital environments, which has required legislators and investigative authorities to adopt more effective tools to deal with structured criminal networks.

The bill, which establishes the legal framework for combating organized crime in Brazil, had its processing concluded in Congress and was approved by the Chamber of Deputies on February 24, 2026. Forwarded for presidential sanction in March 2026, the final text is expected to be named the “Raul Jungmann Law,” in honor of the former Minister of Justice.

The proposal introduces strict innovations by classifying the crimes of structured social control and facilitation of such control, aiming to directly punish territorial control exercised by gangs and militias.

The bill also establishes that homicides committed by order of or for the benefit of criminal organizations shall be classified as heinous crimes. In addition, it provides that such crimes may be judged by single judges or panels of judges as a measure to protect the integrity of jurors against threats from these organizations.

The bill also amends several central statutes of the Brazilian criminal system, including Law No. 12,850/2013 (Organized Crime Law), the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Penal Execution Law, and the Heinous Crimes Law, in addition to creating mechanisms for obtaining, preserving, and retaining digital data.

Although the proposal was primarily designed to combat criminal factions, militias, and other violent organizations, several changes introduced by the text also have relevant effects on fraud prevention and on investigations related to electronic fraud, especially those carried out by organized structures.

One of the central pillars of the new law is the economic strangulation of crime through the Civil Asset Forfeiture Action, which allows the loss of assets and values of illicit origin in favor of the State regardless of a final criminal conviction.

Additionally, the text authorizes judicial intervention in companies suspected of links with criminal factions, allowing the removal of partners, financial audits, and the appointment of court administrators for up to six (6) months. To encourage cooperation, the bill provides financial rewards to informants who present relevant data for the recovery of illicit assets. This is one of the most innovative instruments provided for in the approved text.

According to the new rule, if there are concrete indications that a legal entity is being used to conceal assets or benefit criminal groups, the judge must determine the immediate removal of the partners and appoint a judicial intervenor with proven integrity and experience in management or compliance for a period of six (6) months, renewable successively. This intervenor will have broad powers to suspend suspicious operations, terminate links with those under investigation, conduct full financial audits, and identify assets of illicit origin for subsequent forfeiture.

At the end of the intervention, the judge will decide, based on a technical report, whether to return the company to partners acting in good faith (if absence of intent is proven), order the judicial liquidation of the legal entity, or decree the total forfeiture of its assets if it is proven that the patrimony essentially originates from illicit activities.

The bill also seeks to make investigations involving criminal organizations faster. The text provides that during investigations the judge must decide on requests from the police authority or petitions from the Public Prosecutor’s Office within ten (10) business days from the conclusion of the case file.

In this regard, in the procedural field, the legislation establishes videoconferencing as the rule for custody hearings of prisoners linked to organized crime and requires all prisons to have appropriate equipment for this purpose (generating a significant reduction in costs for society as a whole).

Another crucial change is the introduction of the automatic suspensive effect in appeals against decisions that grant provisional release or deny preventive detention, keeping the defendant detained until the court’s review.

Furthermore, in situations of urgency or risk of ineffectiveness of the measure, the judge must decide within twenty-four (24) hours, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office may issue its opinion afterwards.

In practice, this represents an attempt to reduce delays in the analysis of investigative measures, something particularly relevant in digital investigations where the volatility of data and the speed of financial transactions may compromise investigative effectiveness if judicial decisions are delayed.

Another important aspect of the bill is centered on changes related to access to registration data.

The text expressly provides that the police authority and the Public Prosecutor’s Office may access, regardless of judicial authorization, registration data of those under investigation, limited to personal identification, parentage, telephone numbers, and addresses, including electronic addresses.

The novelty is not the possibility of accessing registration data itself, which already existed in certain situations in the Brazilian legal system, but rather the inclusion of the possibility of directly obtaining telephone numbers and electronic addresses and the expansion of the list of entities required to provide such information.

The new rule explicitly mentions that such data may be obtained from the Electoral Justice, telephone companies, financial institutions, internet service providers, credit card administrators, and other service providers.

For investigations involving digital fraud, this expansion may facilitate the initial identification of holders of bank accounts, telephone numbers, e-mails, or profiles used in fraudulent schemes.

The bill also introduces a new provision, Article 15-A, which creates a specific mechanism for the rapid obtaining of geolocation data and connection records.

According to the text, the police authority may petition and the Public Prosecutor’s Office may request that the competent judge order, within twenty-four (24) hours, that internet providers, telephone operators, and technology companies provide geolocation data and connection records referring to the last seven (7) days whenever there is imminent danger to a person’s life or physical integrity.

Although this measure was mainly designed for emergency situations, it demonstrates the growing centrality of digital data in contemporary criminal investigations.

Another relevant change introduced by the bill for the digital environment lies in the potential of the new wording of Article 17 of the Organized Crime Law.

The previous wording of Article 17 had a significantly more limited scope, both in relation to companies and the type of data whose retention was required.

In addition, the provision now requires the maintenance not only of telephone call records but also internet connection records, access history to digital services, and geolocation data of devices used by those under investigation.

This change produces relevant impacts on the legal regime established by the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (Law No. 12,965/2014).

By imposing the retention of connection records and access history for five (5) years, the new wording of Article 17 significantly alters the retention model provided for in the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, expanding both the storage period and the scope of information that must be maintained by providers.

The bill also creates Article 17-A, which determines that commercial establishments, e-commerce companies, credit card operators, digital payment platforms, and fintechs must provide, upon judicial decision, access to purchase and payment records made by those under investigation in the previous one hundred and eighty days.

Another provision introduced by the bill is Article 17-B, which deals with the preservation of digital data.

In practice, this mechanism allows potentially relevant data for an investigation to be immediately preserved, preventing it from being deleted or overwritten before judicial authorization for access to its content is obtained.

The bill also promotes changes in the Penal Code related to the crime of fraud.

This change is particularly relevant for investigations involving structured fraud.

Although much of the proposed changes were designed to combat criminal factions and violent organizations, it is evident that the bill also addresses challenges related to crimes committed in the digital environment.

The expansion of access to registration data, the creation of mechanisms for the preservation and retention of digital data, the possibility of more structured tracking of financial flows, and the increase in penalties for criminal organizations reflect an attempt to adapt the criminal system to new forms of criminal organization.

For companies operating in digital environments, especially financial institutions, payment platforms, social networks, fintechs, and technology companies, these changes reinforce the trend of greater integration between the private sector and authorities responsible for criminal prosecution.

In a scenario where digital fraud has become increasingly sophisticated and structured, this bill seeks to adapt the Brazilian legal framework to the new dynamics of organized crime.

AUTHOR

• Leticia Moura
• Ana Mancuso
• Henrique Rocha