Martina Lassalle is a sociologist specializing in sociology of violence, crime and punishment. She is currently conducting postdoctoral research at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) and also teaches sociological theory at the Sociology department of the University of Buenos Aires. Lassalle obtained a PhD in social sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (2022). For the past nine years, she has participated in several funded research projects on crime and punishment in Latin America in the Gino Germani Research Institute at the University of Buenos Aires. She was Adjunct Associate Research Scholar at Columbia University in 2024 and a visiting fellow at the University of Granada in 2023. Additionally, she has held research fellowships at the Berlin School of Economics and Law (DAAD: German Academic Exchange Service), at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico and at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

 

Publications

Lassalle’s research has focused on developing theoretical and empirical analyses of the selective functioning of criminal courts and their role in (re)producing hegemonic values and social meanings. She is the author of the book “Killing is not always the same crime. A study on the differential punishment of murder in Argentina”, recently published by Fondo de Cultura Económica (2024). This sociological study provides insights into the logics of criminalization of murder in Argentina, offering a comprehensive overview of penal sanctions and the social meanings and values that orient judicial decisions. It also reveals that the justice system does not regard all lives as equally valuable. More broadly, the book offers a critical reflection on the prohibition of murder in contemporary societies and explores the relationship between the pivotal ideological values of individual life and private property.

Lassalle has also published several articles in peer-reviewed journals, including: “Patriarchal values and criminal justice. On the differential punishment of murder murder against sons and daughters” in Perfiles Latinoamericanos (2023); “Non-criminal murders: a sociological essay about the use of self-defence in Argentina” in Oñati Socio-Legal Series (2021), “Gramsci and the problem of right. A critical approach” in Athenea Digital. Journal of social research (2021); “Life and Private Property: A Sociological Inquiry about the Functioning of the Argentinean Criminal System” in Dilemas, Journal of Studies on Conflict and Social Control (2021); and “Right, crime and punishment. A look from Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” in Tópicos. Journal of Philosophy (2019).

 

Research project for the Cátedra CALAS-HIAS Alemania 2025

Drug trafficking and criminalization of women: problematizing the prohibitionist paradigm and its impacts on communities

Martina Lassalle is currently conducting sociological research on judicial responses to drug-related offenses in Argentina, focusing on criminalization processes affecting women. Her work examines how the criminal justice system contributes to framing the drug problem as a penal issue, while examining the effects of the prohibitionist paradigm on exacerbating gender and class inequalities, increasing territorial violence and promoting social exclusion. Her research also explores and discusses alternative approaches to the drug problem.