The project of reducing the full legal age in Brazil is in an advanced process in the National Congress. This is a study of the social representations of Brazilian legislators responsible for the decisions on legal age in the country. This documentary research aims to analyze the consistency of psychosocial and legal arguments for and against the reduction of the full legal age found in the documents that are processed at the Legislative Chamber of Deputies and Senate. Data were processed and analyzed using the software ALCESTE, and the results showed that the social representations of parliamentaries that are in favor of reducing the full legal age are consistent with those of the former Code for Minors and that Brazilian adolescents are at serious risk of losing their historically acquired rights.
Juvenile deliquents; Social representation; Adolescence; Imputability
