Iulia Cristiana Vatau

Criminology (2022 cohort)

Iulia’s academic interests are situated at the intersection of youth diversion, drug policy, and the geopolitics of criminological knowledge production. Her doctoral research focuses on investigating design differences in the implementation of drug treatment courts in the United States and Chile, particularly the application of non-adversarialist mindsets in judicial team-building. She subsequently seeks to illuminate the specific impact of such practices on the experiences of juvenile court participants. More specifically, Iulia wishes to examine the extent to which such divergences in policy design offer protections against penal abuses and shape the kind of agency juveniles can display in relation to treatment and rehabilitation. By adopting a comparative perspective between the United States and Chile, this thesis aims to bring to the forefront insights from the Global South that can aid in the development of future policy initiatives. The research is conducted under the supervision of Professor Rachel Condry.

Iulia holds a BA History and Politics of the Americas from University College London and an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Oxford where she graduated with distinction. In line with her research interests, she advocates in favour of active youth participation in the making of drug policy at the United Nations. As a civil society representative, she serves as the UN Global Fellow for Students for Sensible Drug Policy and as an Executive Member of the New York NGO Committee on Drugs. In these positions, she has represented youth in civil society interventions at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, as well as worked with key stakeholders, including diplomatic delegations, UNODC officers and fellow advocates. At the Oxford Centre for Criminology, Iulia currently co-convenes the Southernising Criminology Discussion Group, a student-led initiative which aims to extend criminological horizons outside the Global North, reflecting on distinct patterns of crime, justice, and punishment in jurisdictions historically situated at the periphery of knowledge production and theory formation.