The criminal record certificate (certidão de antecedentes criminais) is issued by the Federal Police and by the state Civil Police forces, and you can request it yourself. Antecedentes Criminais Brasil is a private service, not a government agency: we explain the route and help when it gets complicated, with the Hague apostille, sworn translation and issuance for people living abroad.
Criminal antecedents (antecedentes criminais) are information about a person's criminal history that is taken into account in legal contexts. On the Federal Police certificate for civil purposes, "NADA CONSTA" (roughly, "nothing on record") appears when the service has no record of a final conviction. That is not the same as a full search of every agency, and it does not turn police investigations into convictions.
Summary table
| Term | What it means | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Antecedentes (prior record) | An element the judge considers when setting the sentence | Penal Code, art. 59 |
| Final conviction (condenação transitada em julgado) | A definitive conviction, used as the reference by the PF civil certificate | Law 12.037/2009, art. 6; PF service |
| Bad record (maus antecedentes) | Legal expression present in the discussion of Topic 150 of the Supreme Federal Court | STF, Topic 150 |
| Recidivism (reincidência) | A new crime after a prior conviction that became final, under the legal terms | Penal Code, arts. 63 and 64 |
| "NADA CONSTA" certificate | Result of the PF service when it has no record of a final conviction | PF certificate service |
| Criminal record certificate (atestado de antecedentes) | A document subject to the legal rule not to mention the criminal identification of the person under investigation before a final conviction | Law 12.037/2009, art. 6 |
| Folha corrida ("running sheet") | Popular name for the criminal record certificate; the expression is also used in legislation | TJSC; Penal Execution Law, art. 202 |
| Ficha criminal ("criminal file") | An expression that should not be confused with a universal public search by CPF | Limits of the official sources consulted |
Criminal antecedents in the law: art. 59 of the Penal Code and final judgment
The question "what is a criminal antecedent?" seems to ask for a single definition, but the official sources deal with different situations. The Penal Code speaks of the antecedents of the offender when it describes the criteria the judge uses to set the sentence. The Federal Police, for its part, explains the result of a criminal record certificate for civil purposes. Both references relate to criminal history, but they do not answer the same question.
What does the judge consider under art. 59?
Article 59 of the Penal Code includes antecedents among the elements the judge must consider when setting the sentence. The provision also mentions culpability, social conduct, personality, motives, circumstances and consequences of the crime, and the victim's behavior. This lets us identify the function of antecedents in that article: they are part of a judicial analysis and are not simply the text shown on a document requested online.
Why does a final judgment (trânsito em julgado) matter?
Trânsito em julgado is the milestone expressly referred to by the rule used in the PF civil service: a conviction that has already become final. In the official description, the Criminal Record Certificate returns "NADA CONSTA" when there is no record of a conviction that became final. The decisive point is the combination of two limits: the type of decision and the existence of a record in the service consulted.
Article 6 of Law 12.037/2009 provides that the criminal identification of a person under investigation (indiciado) must not be mentioned in criminal record certificates or in information not intended for the criminal court before the conviction becomes final. The rule explains why an investigation, on its own, should not be treated as a final conviction on the civil certificate. It is not an authorization to describe all databases and all court certificates indiscriminately.
Bad record and recidivism: what is the difference?
Bad record (maus antecedentes) and recidivism (reincidência) often appear in the same conversation, but they are not expressions that can be swapped without care. For recidivism, the Penal Code sets out specific requirements in arts. 63 and 64. For the expression "bad record", the reference used in this guide is Topic 150 of general repercussion of the Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF), relating to the use of old convictions when setting the base sentence.
When is there recidivism under the Penal Code?
Article 63 establishes recidivism when a person commits a new crime after the judgment that convicted them of a prior crime became final, in Brazil or abroad. The order of events matters: it is not enough to say that there are two incidents or two cases. The legal definition depends on a prior final conviction followed by a new crime.
Article 64, item I, provides a time limit for this effect. The prior conviction does not count for purposes of recidivism if more than five years have passed between the date the sentence was served or extinguished and the later offense, as worded in the law. That is the scope of the rule cited. It does not say that any criminal record document will automatically show the same result on the fifth anniversary of a conviction.
What does "bad record" mean?
The expression appears in the title of STF Topic 150, which concerns whether convictions that became final more than five years ago can be considered a bad record when setting the base sentence. The existence of this topic shows that the question about recidivism does not, on its own, close the whole discussion about the antecedents examined in the sentence.
This guide does not attribute to Topic 150 a specific conclusion on when such convictions can or cannot be taken into account. The reference available in the material consulted identifies the subject of the judgment, but does not give the content of the thesis here to be reproduced safely. Anyone who needs to discuss the effect of a conviction in a specific case should consult the decision and get appropriate legal advice.
Does the five-year rule apply to every certificate?
No. What the sources identify is the interval in art. 64 for purposes of recidivism. There are separate rules on the information shown on a folha corrida, certificates and attestations after the sentence has been served or extinguished, described in the Penal Execution Law. There is also a specific rule in the Code of Criminal Procedure on the record sheet of a rehabilitated person.
These rules deal with different subjects: the criminal effect of a prior conviction, the content of documents, and a situation provided for in a procedural provision. It is not safe to turn them into a single date from which all information would receive the same treatment. If your question involves a specific case or document, reading the corresponding rule is more useful than a generic answer in years.
Certificate, atestado and "nada consta": what changes?
The criminal record certificate (certidão de antecedentes criminais) is the name the Federal Police service uses for the civil-purposes document. The word atestado appears in art. 6 of Law 12.037/2009, which limits the disclosure of the criminal identification of a person under investigation before a final conviction. The expressions are close in everyday use, but each reference must be understood in the context of the rule or of the agency that provides the document.
To learn more about the document itself, and not only the legal meaning of the term, see our page on the Brazilian criminal record certificate. The specific explanation of the term atestado is at the atestado de antecedentes criminais (police clearance). The distinction helps avoid the idea that all the names imply exactly the same origin and the same coverage of information.
What does "NADA CONSTA" mean at the Federal Police?
On the official PF service, "NADA CONSTA" means that no record of a conviction that became final was found under the criteria of that certificate. This message is not a statement that all Brazilian agencies hold identical information or that there has never been an investigation or case. It is the answer produced by the specific service, within its declared limits.
The PF itself reports that the National Criminal Information System (Sistema Nacional de Informações Criminais, SINIC) receives Individual Criminal Reports (boletins individuais criminais) and necessarily includes information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the PF and the Federal Courts. Information from the State Courts and the Civil Police may arrive partially, through agreements, without full coverage. This explains why a federal document does not automatically replace all state documents.
The expression nada consta criminal deserves a careful reading: it is a documentary result, not a judgment about the person. The content that may or may not appear depends on the rules of the certificate and of the agency that issues it. When someone receives a request for documentation, it is necessary to identify which certificate was requested, rather than assume that any "NADA CONSTA" result will be equivalent.
Is there an online "CONSTA" certificate from the PF?
The federal service described in the sources does not issue a "CONSTA" ("something on record") certificate online. The official explanation is that this information depends on in-person confirmation with the Federal Police, especially because of people with the same name. For that reason, a difficulty in issuance should not be read as immediate proof of a conviction, nor should an alternative digital option be invented.
"Ficha criminal" and "folha corrida": are they the same thing?
Folha corrida is a popular name for the criminal record certificate, according to an explanation published by the Santa Catarina Court of Justice (Tribunal de Justiça de Santa Catarina, TJSC). The expression also appears in legislation: art. 202 of the Penal Execution Law (Lei de Execução Penal) expressly mentions the folha corrida when it deals with references to convictions after the sentence has been served or extinguished.
The words ficha criminal, on the other hand, usually appear in questions that do not specify which document or record is being sought. To answer rigorously, you need to identify the source and the purpose of the information. This guide does not treat "ficha criminal" as the name of a universal public service that automatically gathers all criminal records in the country.
No service to search another person's criminal file simply by CPF (Brazilian taxpayer number) was found in the official content consulted. That is not the same as saying that there are no documents or searches of one's own with specific agencies. It only means there is no basis, in the sources used, to promise a general search of this kind. To understand the search options without confusing popular names and official documents, see how to check a Brazilian criminal record.
What does not appear on the civil document, and why?
The central rule is in art. 6 of Law 12.037/2009: before the conviction becomes final, it is forbidden to mention the criminal identification of the person under investigation in criminal record certificates or in information not intended for the criminal court. On the PF certificate for civil purposes, the service takes the absence of a record of a final conviction as its reference for showing "NADA CONSTA".
This prevents a common hasty conclusion: a police investigation (inquérito policial) is not the same as a conviction that became final. Likewise, the mere existence of a pending case should not be confused with the criterion the PF presents for its civil certificate. But the limit of the statement must be preserved: a rule about civil certificates does not automatically describe the content of all court certificates.
Do a police certificate and a court certificate have the same function?
You should not assume so. The Federal Courts regulation identified in the sources provides that the criminal court certificate reports pending criminal cases and archived cases with a conviction that became final, until the sentence is recorded as served or extinguished. The same regulation defines, for the case classes indicated, when the criminal court certificate will be positive: when there is a conviction that became final.
So mentioning that a case is pending and classifying a certificate as positive are not necessarily the same thing. This is an example of why the expression "NADA CONSTA" from the police service cannot simply be transferred to all certificates that use the word criminal. In each case, what matters is the issuing agency, the applicable rule and the field of information described.
What happens after the sentence is served or extinguished?
Article 202 of the Penal Execution Law provides that, once the sentence has been served or extinguished, news or references to the conviction must not appear in the folha corrida, or in attestations or certificates supplied by a police authority or by auxiliaries of the Courts. The rule itself provides exceptions: for the investigation of a case about a new criminal offense and other cases expressly set out in law.
Article 748 of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with another defined situation: prior convictions will not be mentioned on the record sheet of a rehabilitated person or in a certificate taken from the court's books, except when requested by a criminal judge. These two rules are not identical and do not remove the need to check the requirements of the specific case.
That is why a generic answer about when "the record disappears" can be misleading. The question mixes recidivism, the content of certificates and the consequences of different rules. The sources gathered here allow us to explain these distinctions, but do not establish a single date on which all records change. To assess the effects of a specific conviction, consult a lawyer.
What about employment, public exams or other procedures?
No general rule was found, in the sources used, that obliges the presentation of criminal records for every job. That does not mean a requirement can never exist in a particular situation; it means it would not be correct to state a universal rule from this material. There is also no basis here to say that every institution must accept a personal declaration in place of the certificate or criminal record certificate.
As for how investigations and cases are treated in specific administrative situations, the information was not found in the official content consulted; confirm directly on the website of the responsible agency. Care is especially important when the question involves a public notice or a document requirement that does not appear in the sources of this guide. The general rule of the PF civil certificate does not replace reading the specific requirement.
If you will use the document outside Brazil or you are having trouble with the request, Antecedentes Criminais Brasil can review your case as a private service. There is a contact form to explain your situation; we state the conditions before any payment.
Who issues it and how do you get the certificate?
The Federal Police issues the federal certificate online, free of charge, with service described in the official information as immediate. The service reports a validity of 90 days for the certificate. The free service refers to issuance at the public agency, not to any assistance you hire from a private service.
The state Civil Police forces also issue certificates. Since the PF clarifies that its system does not fully cover the data of state agencies, you may need to obtain documents from more than one agency, depending on what is requested.
This is a guide to concepts, not an issuance procedure. To understand the document, see the Brazilian criminal record certificate; for specific guidance on applying, read how to get a Brazilian criminal record certificate.
Sources
- Federal Police, Emitir Certidão de Antecedentes Criminais: criterion for the "NADA CONSTA" result, art. 6 of Law 12.037/2009 and SINIC coverage.
- Penal Code, updated text on the Chamber of Deputies site: arts. 59, 63 and 64.
- Supreme Federal Court, Topic 150: scope of the topic on bad record.
- Penal Execution Law, updated text on the Chamber of Deputies site: art. 202.
- Federal Justice Council, Resolution 680/2020: criteria for criminal court certificates, arts. 14 and 15.
- Code of Criminal Procedure, updated text on the Chamber of Deputies site: art. 748.
Will you use the certificate abroad, or did your request get stuck? Leave your contact and we will review your case and tell you the time and price before any payment. Antecedentes Criminais Brasil is a private service, not a government body; issuance by the competent agencies and decisions about the documents are not made by our service.