PhD in Criminal Law from the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ Law), Ana Luisa Leão de Aquino Barreto is a postdoctoral researcher in Sociology of Law in the Graduate Programme in Sociology at IESP-UERJ and professor of Criminal Sciences at the Serra dos Órgãos University Centre (Unifeso). Under the supervision of Prof. Guilherme Leite Gonçalves, she is developing the research project ‘Therapeutic communities and drug policies in Rio de Janeiro: The state, the criminal justice system, and the dispute over public funds,’ funded by the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Faperj).

Masters in Law from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (FND-UFRJ) and graduate in Law from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), she serves as a researcher in the Clandestine Group for Studies on Control, Cities and Prisons (Clandestino) and the Laboratory for Criticism and Alternatives to Prison (LABCAP), in addition to practising as a legal professional. She conducts research on topics such as criminal drug policy, criminology, criminal law, criminal procedural law, and sociology of law.