Introduction: Punishment in Latin America: Explorations from the Margins

This introduction sets the scene for the book. It touches upon the recent growth of a literature on punishment in global peripheries within the wider punishment and society scholarship. It then briefly develops on two topics that constitute key elements of the whole book: knowledge production and exchange and peripheral punishment. In highlighting some common aspects, trends, and features of punishment in Latin America, it prepares the ground for the specific chapter contributions that are based on local experiences of different Latin American countries. In so doing, we also acknowledge the works of scholars who have initially advanced a movement for the understanding of punishment and the criminal question our marginalised Latin American realities.