Eduardo Gutierrez Cornelius

Hi, I'm Ed. I'm a contract Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota and a PhD Candidate in Sociology at the University of Toronto (expected 2024). ​My pronouns are he/ele/él. 
 
I specialize in law and society, the sociology of punishment, and sociological theory. My research agenda investigates the role of legal culture in shaping penal policy. I focus on legal ideas and professional identities to investigate the role of legal actors and legal culture in advancing and resisting state-sanctioned violence. I am interested in the social construction, importation, circulation, and consequences of penal practices and discourses across the Global North and South.
 
My work in English has been published in Law & Society Review,  GV Law Review, and the Handbook of Classical Sociological Theory. 
 
I hold a Law Degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Sao Paulo, and a Master's Degree in Socio-Legal Studies from York University. Before becoming a full-time academic, I worked in the pro-bono defense of criminalized Brazilian youth.


My doctoral dissertation and book project, Car Wash Legacies: Lawyers, Globalization, and the Legal Construction of the Brazilian Penal State, investigates the globalization of penal discourses and practices in the aftermath of Operation Car Wash, the world’s largest corruption scandal. The operation resulted in criminal charges against several South American businesspeople and politicians. Gaining momentum, Car Wash’s judges and prosecutors initiated a legal and political movement to change Brazilian criminal law, introducing legislation based on the global anti-corruption regime and American criminal law. However, they faced resistance from legal defense lawyers who advocate for ‘minimum criminal law,’ a philosophy rooted in European legal doctrine.

In this project, I investigate how Brazilian legal elites’ historical disputes have shaped the importation, adaptation, and resistance of global penal practices and discourses. To do so, I conducted a multi-sited study in Porto Alegre and São Paulo between 2023 and 2024. I interviewed 116 lawyers, judges, law professors, and prosecutors; observed legislative hearings, court proceedings, and academic events; and analyzed academic works, statutes, and court records.