Aggravating circumstances in the Brazilian Consumer Protection Code

Abstract

The text examines the aggravating circumstances of crimes against consumer relations, provided for in art. 76 of the Brazilian Consumer Protection Code. It situates the concept and classification of circumstances of the crime, distinguishing them from essential elements and from causes of increase and decrease of penalty, and analyzes the application of legal and judicial aggravating circumstances in sentencing. It examines each specific aggravating circumstance, relating to the time of the crime, its effects, the manner of execution, the agents, and the material object, proposing systematization and confronting them with the Criminal Code and the Popular Economy Law. It concludes that the legislator copied the already failed system of the Popular Economy Law, making use of excessive normative elements that weaken the type and legal certainty.