Dr Luiz Dal Santo
School of Law
Lecturer in Criminology
+44 114 2XX XXXX
Full contact details
School of Law
EF16b
Bartolomé House
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
- Profile
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Dr Luiz Dal Santo joined the Sheffield School of Law as a Lecturer in Criminology in February 2026. He also serves as Assistant Director of the Centre for Criminological Research at Sheffield. Prior to that, he held teaching appointments at the University of Oxford (Centre for Criminology, Hertford College, and St Catherine’s College), Oxford Brookes University, the University of Law, and the University of Roehampton.
His research interests lie in the sociology of punishment, the politics of crime control, prison and penal power, Southern and Global Criminologies, and comparative criminal justice. Geographically, his work has focused primarily on Brazil, Latin America, and global peripheries more broadly.
Luiz has published one monograph, A Punição no Brasil: Crítica do Giro Punitivo (Punishment in Brazil: critique of the punitive turn), and nearly 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on punishment, penal populism, prisons, policing and police violence, racism and criminal justice, and Southern Criminology. His work has been published in English, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish.
Much of his academic work has been developed through collaboration with colleagues internationally. Luiz is a founding organiser of the international conference series Punishment in Global Peripheries, having organised its first five editions: online (2021); Oxford, UK (2022); Mumbai, India (2023); Santa Fé, Argentina (2024); and Cape Town, South Africa (2025). In 2026, this conference will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan. As part of his collaborative work, he has co-edited a Special Issue on Punishment in global peripheries (published in Theoretical Criminology), as well as three edited volumes: one on Southernising Criminology (Routledge), one on Punishment in Latin America (Emerald), and one on local and regional features of incarceration in Brazil (D'Plácido, in Portuguese). He is currently co-editing two forthcoming Special Issues: one on Colonialism and Penality, scheduled for publication in Critical Criminology in June 2026; and one on Trends and Features of Punishment and Penal Control in the Global South, scheduled for publication in the International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy in June 2026.
Luiz holds a DPhil in Criminology from the University of Oxford (UK), and an MA in Critical Criminology from the Universities of Bologna and Padova (Italy). Prior to commencing his DPhil, he worked as a lawyer in Brazil, having completed an undergraduate degree in Law at Mackenzie Presbyterian University (Brazil).
- Qualifications
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- DPhil in Criminology, University of Oxford
- MA in Critical Criminology and Social Security, Universities of Bologna and Padova
- Research interests
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- Sociology of punishment
- Politics of crime control
- Prisons
- Southern and Global Criminologies
- Comparative criminal justice
- Crime and Punishment in the Global South
- Knowledge production
- Publications
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Books
- A Punição no Brasil: crítica do giro punitivo. Tirant Lo Blanch.
Edited books
- Punishment in Latin America: Explorations from the Margins. Emerald.
- Southernising Criminology: Challenges, Horizons and Praxis. Routledge.
- Mapeando o encarceramento no Brasil. D'Plácido.
- Punishment in Global Peripheries. Theoretical Criminology journal.
Journal articles
- Introduction: Punishment in global peripheries. Theoretical Criminology, 27(4), 529-537.
- Mass incarceration in times of economic growth and inclusion? Three steps to understand contemporary imprisonment in Brazil. Theoretical Criminology, 27(4), 597-618.
- Brazilian prisons in times of mass incarceration: Ambivalent transformations. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 61(4), 502-518.
- Populismo penal: o que nós temos a ver com isso?'.. Revista Brasileira de Ciencias Criminais, 168, 225-252.
- Cumprindo pena no Brasil: encarceramento em massa, prisão-depósito e os limites das importações teóricas sobre giro punitivo na realidade periférica. Revista Brasileira de Ciencias Criminais, 151, 291-315.
- Racismo e controle social no Brasil: história e presente do controle do negro por meio do sistema penal. Revista Brasileira de Ciencias Criminais, 138, 268-303.
- Economia política da pena: contribuições, dilemas e desafios. Revista Direito e Práxis, 13(3), 1684-1705.
- Economía Política del Castigo en la periferia global: ¿Desde el silencio del norte a las importaciones acríticas?. Delito y Sociedad(53), e0053-e0053.
- Reconsiderando a tese da penalidade neoliberal: inclusao social e encarceramento em massa no Brasil. Revista da Faculdade de Direito da UFG, 44(1).
- Uma outra pena de morte: a violência letal do sistema penal brasileiro. Revista Direito, Estado e Sociedade(56).
Book chapters
- Introduction: Punishment in Latin America: Explorations from the Margins In Dal Santo L & Sozzo M (Ed.), Punishment in Latin America Explorations from the Margins (pp. 1-18). Emerald Group Publishing
- Toward a Southern criminology In Dal Santo L & Penna C (Ed.), Southernising Criminology (pp. 100-117). Routledge
- Pressing questions, Southern answers: on southernising criminology In Dal Santo L & Sepúlveda Penna C (Ed.), Southernising Criminology (pp. 13-46). Routledge
- Mapeando o encarceramento no Brasil: uma introdução In Dal Santo L & Giamberardino A (Ed.), Mapeando o encarceramento no Brasil (pp. 25-39). D'Plácido
- Las cárceles brasileñas en tiempos de encarcelamiento masivo: transformaciones ambivalentes In Mansilla MA & Dufraix Tapia R (Ed.), Cárcel y Excluidos Sociales en América Latina: Adultos mayores, discapacidad, género, migración y diversidad sexual Ril Editores
- The Political Economy of Punishment in the Global Periphery: Incarceration and Discipline in Brazilian Prisons In Cavalcanti R, Squires P & Waseem Z (Ed.), Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives on Policing, Security and Social Order (pp. 169-188). Briston University Press
- Necropolítica e sistema penal brasileiro: genocídio institucionalizado contra negros In Rotta Almeida B, Cacicedo P & Pimentel E (Ed.), Saúde e mortalidade no sistema penal (pp. 50-68). Tirant Lo Blanch
- Killing and Letting Die: Depicting the Brazilian Conundrum Between Police Killings and Private Lethal Practices, Guns, Gun Violence and Gun Homicides (pp. 329-348). Springer International Publishing
- Introduction, Southernising Criminology (pp. 1-9). Taylor & Francis
Book reviews
- Leanne Weber, Jarrett Blaustein, Kathryn Benier, Rebecca Wickes and Diana Johns, Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis. Punishment & Society, 26(2), 435-437.
- A Punição no Brasil: crítica do giro punitivo. Tirant Lo Blanch.
- Teaching interests
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Luiz has taught a range of modules across Criminology and Criminal Justice, including Contemporary Issues in Criminology; Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice; Introduction to Criminal Justice; Understanding Global Criminal Justice; Philosophy of Punishment; Punishment and Penal Policy; Crime and Globalisation; Urban Criminology; Southern Criminology; and Comparative Politics of Crime and Punishment
- Teaching activities
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UG modules:
Punishment and Penal Policy;
Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice;
Prisons, Prisoners, and their FamiliesPG modules:
Issues in Comparative Penology
- Professional activities and memberships
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Assistant Director, Centre for Criminological Research