Maja Vestad

Doctoral Research Fellow - Kriminologi og rettssosiologi

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Email maja.vestad@jus.uio.no

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Visiting address Kristian Augusts gate 17 Domus Juridica 8.etg 0164 Oslo

Postal address Postboks 6706 St. Olavs plass 0130 Oslo

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Academic interests

Vestad works primarily with questions related to agency, legal consciousness, crisis communication and technology.

1. DNA as evidence

Vestad's PhD project “Forensic DNA Evidence Technologies and Criminological Horizons" investigates how forensic professionals and database technicians within Norwegian and UK law enforcements operate digital evidence production technologies (hardware and software). The project is part of Digital DNA, and contributes empirical knowledge of how developments in DNA technology informs crime scene procedures, criminal investigations, and the legal consciousness of actors in the field.

2. The Cabin Ban and the Swedish border

Vestad worked on the national Norwegian cabin ban of March and April 2020, and has since followed the cabin owners' class action lawsuit against the State throughout the Oslo District Court and Borgarting Court of Appeal. A Supreme Court trial to determine whether mandatory quarantine regulations post visitation of secondary properties in Sweden breaches constitutional and international rights is set for early March 2022. The cabin studies are part of Vestad's contribution to Corona and the Rule of Law.

3. The 22 July terror attack

Vestad is part of LAW22JULY: RIPPLES - the main component in the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo's initiative to commemorate 22 July, investigating temporal 'micro-memorialisation' after the attack.

Teaching

Introduction to Criminology (KRIM1100)
Surveillance: Data, technologies, practices (KRIM2957/KRIM4957)
Sociology of Law I (JUS4122)

Coordinating roles

The research initiative Corona and the Rule of Law
The research project LAW22JULY: RIPPLES

Background

Vestad has previously held research assistant positions at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law and the Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo. Vestad holds a Master’s degree in Criminology from the University of Oslo, and undergraduate degrees in Crime, Justice and Legal Studies, and Anthropology, from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.

Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora; Ikdahl, Ingunn; Lohne, Kjersti; Vestad, Maja; Sørlie, Anniken & Moe-Pryce, Marit (2022). Law after July 22, 2011: Survivors, Memory and Reconstruction. PRIO Paper. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
While the criminal law and security governance aspects of the July 22 terror attack in Norway have been extensively analyzed in the academic literature, much less attention has been given to processes involving civil law, legal mobilization and legal-bureaucratic processes. The slow workings of the law mean that the aftermath of July 22 is still unfolding in different legal processes. This PRIO paper carves out a socio-legal research agenda intended to bridge the aforementioned knowledge gap. In so doing, it identifies various aspects of how the law deals with survivors, their families and the bereaved. It also addresses the legal debates over memorials and the reconstruction and securitization of the Norwegian Government Quarter. We argue that in choosing between extraordinary and ordinary legal mechanisms and instruments to deal with the terror attack, the state and the legal system have opted for the latter. This emphasis on “ordinary law” must be investigated. We are interested in how law distributes resources, rights and identities and sets limits on government interventions – and how individual actors and organizations mobilize the law to shape the political, popular and legal narratives around July 22.
Vestad, Maja Viktoria Spigseth (2021). Mistenksomhetens spiral : Autoktoni og eskalasjonsmomenter i den norske hytteforbudkonflikten. Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kriminalvidenskab. ISSN 0029-1528. 108(3), p. 468–482. doi: 10.7146/ntfk.v108i3.129651. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In March and April 2020, at the earliest stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Norwegian government prohibited overnight stays at secondary homes as an early measure to prevent the spread of the virus. Violations of the ban carried penalties of up to 6 months in prison. Popularly dubbed the Cabin Ban, the law catalysed national debate, and violations of the ban generated massive public interest. This article recounts local conflicts sparked by the ban in four Norwegian «cabin municipalities», as described by residents, local politicians and cabin owners. It identifies the notion of autochthony as a central tool in understanding why some chose to breach the ban, why local residents mobilised against cabin owners, and why the conflict escalated to the extent it did.

View all works in Cristin

Vestad, Maja (2022). Mala prohibita - Mala in se: Key Principles in Criminology.
Kaufmann, Mareile & Vestad, Maja (2022). Blood stains, skulls & DNA – when evidence goes digital. Nordic Criminology Blog.
Vestad, Maja & Kaufmann, Mareile (2022). Visualising Suspect Bodies: Science and technology in forensic biometrics.
Vestad, Maja (2022). Norway’s COVID-19 Cabin Controversies: Powers, Privileges, and Plagues.
Vestad, Maja (2022). Hvem vokter vokterne? Hyttesak i Høyesterett. Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847. 14, p. 34–35. Show summary
https://www.morgenbladet.no/ideer/debatt/2022/04/08/hvem-vokter-vokterne-hyttesak-i-hoyesterett/
Vestad, Maja (2022). «Hyttesaken» og pandemihåndteringens grenser. sosiologen.no. Show summary
https://sosiologen.no/debatt-og-kronikk/debatt/hyttesaken-og-pandemihandteringens-grenser/
Vestad, Maja Viktoria Spigseth & Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora (2021). The nation as memorial cartography: mapping commemorative sites outside the canon.
Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora & Vestad, Maja Viktoria Spigseth (2021). Transitional Justice and Contested Memorialization after Terror: The Norwegian 22 July Attacks.
Vestad, Maja Viktoria Spigseth (2021). Nordiska experterna om svenska skjutningarna: En hotbild. [Newspaper]. Aftonbladet.
Vestad, Maja Viktoria Spigseth (2021). Overrasket over at ikke flere har saksøkt staten. [Internet]. NRK.