Eduardo Cornelius

Hi, I'm Ed (he/ele/él).
 

I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota.
 

I specialize in law and society, punishment, globalization, and sociological theory. My research examines how legal actors and legal culture shape penal policy and contribute to broader patterns of inequality.
 

My current book project investigates how Brazil’s Operation Car Wash—one of the largest elite corruption probes in world history—paradoxically culminated in increased punishment for the racialized poor. This research received an Honorable Mention for the Dissertation Prize from the Law and Society Association.
 

My work in English has been published in Law & Society Review, The International Journal of the Legal Profession, GV Law Review, and the Handbook of Classical Sociological Theory. It has received awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, and the Canadian Law and Society Association.
 

My first book, in Portuguese, examines how Brazilian courts interpreted one of the most progressive youth punishment laws in the world. This work was awarded Best Thesis by the University of São Paulo’s Department of Sociology (2017) and received the 22nd Annual Theses and Dissertations Award from the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences (2018).
 

My research has been supported by the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and a fellowship from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, among others.
 

I hold a law degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, a Master’s in Sociology from the University of São Paulo, a Master’s in Socio-Legal Studies from York University, and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Toronto.
 

Before becoming a full-time academic, I worked in the pro bono defense of criminalized Brazilian youth.