The Criminal Panopticon: Armed Power, Surveillance, and The Transnational Expansion of the PCC and CV

Résumé

Original translation in English of the article originally published in Dilemas, Rev. Estud. Conflito Controle Soc., issue vol. 18, n. 3, 2025.

This article presents the concept of the Criminal Panopticon as a theoretical and conceptual tool to understand the forms of power and surveillance exercised by Illegal Armed Groups (IAGs) in Brazil, which are increasingly assuming transnational dimensions. Inspired by Foucault and Mbembe, and in dialogue with the literature on IAGs and drug trafficking within the field of Critical Security Studies, the study demonstrates that the power of groups such as the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Comando Vermelho (CV) stems from the selective presence of the State. It combines physical coercion, informational control, and economic rationality, challenging classical categories and shaping a new sociological grammar of contemporary armed power.