The ethics liberation and punitive power in peripheral countries

Abstract

The research addressed Enrique Dussel's Ethics of Liberation in the era of globalization and social exclusion, using it as a framework for ethical considerations in a decolonial critique of the Eurocentric and North American standards that underpinned the domination of peripheral countries by central countries, including in criminological knowledge. Therefore, we explored decolonial knowledge, correlating it with critical criminology, resulting in the proposal of a decolonial criminology. The theoretical contributions, in conjunction with the Ethics of Liberation, were employed to foster a critical awareness of the use of punitive power as a means of maintaining the colonial matrix of domination and exploitation, especially within the field of criminology. In conclusion, we also presented the contribution of the Ethics of Liberation to a new configuration of punitive power, now employed in favor of vulnerable groups with the aim of eliminating or reducing their victimization within the current world system. However, it is crucial to note that the same Ethics of Liberation demands that the use of punitive power must not lead to new victims of exclusion or domination..