El aporte del enfoque de redes de criminalidad a la comprensión de las estructuras criminales en la justicia transicional colombiana.

Abstract

This article analyzes the contribution of the criminal networks approach, as articulated by Estanislao Escalante (2025), to understanding criminal structures within the framework of transitional justice in Colombia. It is based on the premise that an interpretation focused exclusively on armed organizations, hierarchies, and individual responsibilities is insufficient to explain the conditions that allowed for the continuity and reproduction of violence. Consequently, it brings together the criminal network approach, social capital theory, the perspective of complex thought, an approach grounded in historical materialism, and transitional justice to highlight the need to identify not only the direct perpetrators but also the relationships and structural conditions that facilitated the commission and reproduction of acts of victimization. Finally, it is argued that the network approach can contribute to transitional justice oriented not only toward clarification and punishment but also toward the transformation of the power structures that foster the persistence of violence.