The results of the research shown in these pages are part of the project La Actividad Sancionadora de la Administracion en Colombia, a study that mainly aims to analyze the central concept of the penalizing power of administration: the administrative penalty. To address this topic, we start with a doctrine and legal review of the ius puniendi of the State. After this, we focus on the concept of penalty and its elements; lastly, we review the rules extracted basically from the case law of the Constitutional Court, who has taken care of the matter. From this we conclude that the administrative penalty is the cornerstone of the field related to the intervention on administration. It has been developed based on the responses of the constitutional judge, and not by the initiative of the lawmaker or the national scientific community on this particular topic.