Diego Tuesta Reategui

I am a researcher in the field of punishment and society. My research examines the use of prosecutorial discretion and aims to explain the reproduction of penal trends in various social and legal contexts. I have investigated human trafficking, illicit drug trade, and protest policing in Peru, my country of origin, and my work has been published in criminology and sociology outlets.

My career is the outcome of working experiences in academia, as an instructor of social theory and criminology courses, and in criminal justice agencies, both at a national and international level (Peru’s Ministry of Justice, National Commission of Drug Enforcement, and the British Embassy, among others). These positions gave me the opportunity to practice ethnographic research in Peru’s most emblematic artisanal mining and drug trade scenarios, experiences that had a tremendous effect in shaping the scope of my current research.

For my dissertation, I will study prosecutorial discretion and racial over-representation in Ontario. I’m currently completing two articles–one empirical, the other theoretical– on the criminalization of mining protests in Peru and on the underlying theory problems in the concept of vigilantism. 

Publications

• Tuesta, D. (2024), "Is Vigilantism an “Extralegal” Phenomenon?", Dal Santo, L. and Sozzo, M. (Ed.) Punishment in Latin America: Explorations from the Margins (Perspectives on Crime, Law and Justice in the Global South), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 183-199. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-328-620241010.
• Tuesta, D., & Paredes, M. (2024). "Penal extractivism: A qualitative study on punishment and extractive industries in Peru." Punishment & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745241258894.
• Tuesta, D. (2023). "Notes on the concept of vigilantism." In: Sozzo, M. & Dal Santo, L., Punishment in Latin America: Explorations from the Periphery. Emerald. Forthcoming.
• Tuesta, D. (2021). “Rethinking Prosecutorial Discretion: Toward a Moral Cartography of Prosecutors,” British Journal of Criminology, 61 (6), pp. 1486-1502.
• Tuesta, D. (2020). “Trata de personas y justicia penal selectiva. El caso Madre de Dios.” In Sozzo, M., Reformas de la justicia penal en América Latina. Promesas, prácticas y efectos. Buenos Aires: DIDOT. 
• Tuesta, D. (2018). "<<Son prácticamente casos perdidos>> Trata de personas y respuesta judicial contra la trata de personas en Madre de Dios, Peru." Debates en Sociología, 47, 73-99.
• Mujica, J., Tuesta, D., and Prieto, B. (2017). "Coal Production in the Peruvian Amazon: Dynamics of Hazardous Child Labour." Impactos Sociais de Emprendimentos Econômico nas Condiçoes de Vida e Direitos de Crianças e Jovens (pp. 69-99). Belem do Pará: Ministerio dos Dereitos Humanos.
• Tuesta, D. (2016). "Sociology of the Penal System and the Gender Issue." Studies and Investigations in Peru and Ibero-America (pp. 273-298). Lima: Centre for Constitutional Studies. Constitutional Court of Peru.
• Tuesta, D., and Mujica, J. (2014). "Procedural justice problems in femicide criminal investigations in Peru." Urvio. Latin American Journal of Security Studies, (17), 80-95.
• López, N., and Tuesta, D. (2015). "Illicit economies and social order: the border area of Peru, Brazil, and Colombia." Revista CIDOB d’afers internacionals, 79-104.
• Tuesta, D. and Mujica, J. (2014). "Femicide Penal Response in the Americas: Indicators and the Misuses of Crime Statistics, evidence from Peru." International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, 7 (1), 1- 21.
• Mujica, J., and Tuesta, D. (2012). "Problems of Criminological Indicators and Comparative Situation of Femicide in Peru." Anthropologica, 30(30), 169-194.