New justice minister takes office under pressure as crime fears loom large

Recent opinion polls show that Brazilian voters are gripped by concerns about crime and disorder, even though official national crime figures have shown improvements. According to Quaest, eight out of ten voters believe that crime has gotten worse over the past year; for two-thirds of Brazilians, criminals and drug trafficking are the country’s top concern, according to Atlas Intel — dethroning concerns about the economy and inflation.

Meanwhile, 57 percent of voters believe that the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration underperformed in its first year. In 2024, year two of his term, the president will have a chance for a do-over, putting a new man in charge of overseeing a hot-button issue that will be key to his re-election hopes.

Brazil will have a new justice minister, Ricardo Lewandowski, a former Supreme Court justice with deep ties to Lula and his Workers’ Party.

The appointment of a former Supreme Court justice to the cabinet comes at a time when Lula is betting on strengthening relations with the country’s top court, while his relationship with Congress faces many more challenges than in Lula’s previous presidencies. The legal questioning of issues debated by the legislature has become an alternative for the administration to govern.

Mr. Lewandowski will face several challenges, according to Bruno Langeani, a manager at the Sou da Paz Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses on public safety issues. Mr. Lewandowski arrives with the Justice Ministry already behind schedule, and the timetable for his transition means another month will be wasted.

Because of his professional entanglements, Mr. Lewandowski will not take office until February 1. 

A massive overhaul of the ministry is all but certain (the new boss is set to replace appointments linked to the Brazilian Socialist Party, the PSB, with picks made by Lula’s Workers’ Party), raising doubts about how much the new justice minister can actually get done in the coming weeks and months — there is often a quiet bedding-in period for new cabinet ministers.

Lewandowski will have a lot on his plate

In an interview with...