The Idea of Corporate Transitional Justice: Paths to Corporate Criminology in Brazil

• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/07340168211038046
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Idea of Corporate

Transitional Justice:

Paths to Corporate

Criminology in Brazil

Eduardo Saad-Diniz

1

Abstract

The essay aims to exam corporate complicity with authoritarian regimes of the past and contem-

porary practices for the purposes of developing the body of corporate criminology. The opening of

Brazilian criminological research to the role of companies during the military regime shines new

lights on corporate accountability and may, when investigating the corporate complicity with

authoritarian dynamics, also open new avenues for the transitional justice studies. Especially with

regard to the idea of Corporate Transitional Justice, it assumes the need for broader debates about

the historical continuum and different forms of business contributions and aspects of harming and

victimizing in the corporate field.

Keywords

Brazilian criminology, corporate crime, corporate criminal justice, transitional justice, corporate

transitional justice

The essay aims to exam corporate complicity with authoritarian regimes of the past and contem-

porary practices for the purposes of developing the body of corporate criminology. The opening of

Brazilian criminological research to the role of companies during the military regime shines new

lights on corporate accountability and may, when investigating the corporate complicity with

authoritarian dynamics, also open new avenues for the transitional justice studies. Especially with

regard to the idea of Corporate Transitional Justice (CTJ), it assumes the need for broader debates

about the historical continuum and different forms and aspects of harming and victimizing by means

of business contributions.

Thus, this missing account in transitional studies aims to conceptualize the set of measures and

controls implemented by means of public policies and corporate initiatives to redress not only the

past but also the continuum of corporate harmful wrongdoing in complicity with authoritarian

dynamics. In September 2020, for instance, Volkswagen signed an agreement with public authorities

1

Ribeira

˜o Preto Law School and Latin American Studies, University of Sa

˜o Paulo, Brazil

Corresponding Author:

Eduardo Saad-Diniz, Ribeira

˜o Preto Law School and Latin American Studies, University of Sa

˜o Paulo, Sa

˜o Paulo, Brazil.

Email: eduardo.saaddiniz@usp.br

Criminal Justice Review

ª2021 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/07340168211038046

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2021, Vol. 46(4) 435–449