Criminal Justice Professor Mangai Natarajan Ph.D. received one of the most notable awards in the field of Comparative International Criminal Justice—an honor that was also awarded to former John Jay President Jeremy Travis—when the International Division of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) named her the 2021 recipient of the Gerhard O.W. Mueller Award. The award was especially meaningful to Natarajan because she studied under Mueller as a doctoral student. “I was Professor Mueller’s student, teaching assistant, and research assistant. As an educator, he provided me with a lifetime of experiential learning. Now, I try my best to incorporate his teaching style in my classroom,” she says, further reflecting upon her educational journey and what this award means to her. “Winning this award was a joyful moment and a life accomplishment, especially as a woman who came from a conservative family background. I was the first woman in my family to go to college and the first woman to register for a doctoral program in the Criminology department at my university in India. However, it was only when I began receiving email messages from close associates of Professor Mueller from the United Nations, congratulating me on the work I had accomplished, that I realized the total impact of the award.” Natarajan connected with us to share how she is following in the footsteps of her mentor.

How long have you been teaching at John Jay?
I recently completed my “silver jubilee” year of teaching at John Jay. Along with other faculty members and administrators, I was put in charge of developing the Bachelor of Arts degree program in International Criminal Justice (ICJ). The program is now celebrating its 20-year anniversary. Hundreds of students from all around the world have graduated and found a niche in the International Criminal Justice field, with John Jay serving as a sanctuary for our young scholars. I’m proud to be part of that development.

Professor Mueller is said to be the “father” of international/comparative criminal justice. How has Professor Mueller’s influence impacted your goals in the field of International Criminal Justice?
Three decades ago, I landed in the United States with a master’s degree in Criminology and hopes of expanding my scholarship on the comparative perspective of women in policing in India, the United States, and other countries. I ended up earning my doctorate from Rutgers, and at the time, Professor Mueller was my dissertation Chair. He set me up with internships and fellowships at the United Nations New York headquarters and at the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) in Japan, leading to my extensive international exposure. My scholarship on women in policing has now become an eternal endeavor.

My postdoctoral training with the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) made me a drug researcher. I focused on drug dealing, drug use, and drug trafficking. I was one of the pioneers in developing methodologies in studying drug trafficking organizations using network analysis and court records. Many scholars around the world are now using court records to study organized crime. I have involved many students in this work, including Sarah Umstadt ’21 and Christopher Yu ’21, who are both stellar John Jay students.

How has Professor Mueller influenced your outlook on being an educator?
I loved Professor Mueller’s teaching style; it was very dynamic and impactful. He told stories and took us on a lot of field trips. I remember during one spring semester, he took all of his students out on his boat to learn about Coast Guard operations. While we were sailing, the Coast Guard stopped the boat and rushed in. They said that they needed to search the boat because they had probable cause to suspect that contraband was on board. They literally checked every area of the boat. Finally, they said, “Okay, you’re cleared.” At that point, we all knew that this was a lesson set up by Professor Mueller to teach us about Coast Guard operations. Because of his experiential approach to learning, I have taken students to Judge Judy’s family court when I taught juvenile delinquency classes. On a regular basis, I take my ICJ 101 students to the U.N. I have also accompanied my ICJ students to international conferences, especially visiting Srebrenica in Bosnia where our ICJ students were able to meet survivors.

Students, such as graduating senior Sarah Umstadt ’21, sing your praises and cite working with you as one of the reasons why they’re pursuing law school and grad school. How can collaborative research with professors impact a student’s future path to success?
I highly encourage students to do independent research with professors. Frequently, students stop by my office and say they want to work with me on a research project. There are many studies that I want to undertake that I have invested time in over the years. To be mutually beneficial, I think hard about how my research idea can help students who want to work with me.

With Sarah, I knew she wanted to go to law school and also wanted to do research. One of my expertise is in digging court records to study drug trafficking organizations. I thought training her to do court research would help prepare her for law school. When I described the research agenda to Sarah, she was very excited. We built a relationship of mutual trust and understanding as we embarked on our research. I’m sure the research collaboration helped her learn valuable skills, but she also gained the independence needed to pursue her agenda for any future research she undertakes. Professors have their own agenda for their research; however, they are willing to walk students through the learning process with no expectations, except the student’s success. We invest our time mentoring and coaching students to become independent thinkers—legacy begets legacy.