Mridula S. Raman is an Assistant Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School, where she teaches and writes about criminal procedure and criminal law. Her scholarship examines “contested” crimes and punishments—areas in which there is deep disagreement over whether society should criminalize certain conduct or impose certain penalties. Focusing particularly on pregnancy criminalization and capital punishment, her research explores how the incentives of criminal legal system actors converge and diverge in ways that lead to unanticipated outcomes, as well as how instability in precedent contributes to the erosion of constitutional rights.

 

 

Professor Raman joined Cardozo Law in 2026 after an extensive career in clinical teaching and capital defense. She spent seven years teaching in UC Berkeley Law’s Death Penalty Clinic, serving most recently as its deputy director. Before entering academia, she worked as a capital habeas litigator with the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Phoenix, Arizona. Professor Raman clerked for Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Neil V. Wake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. She holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and an A.B. in economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard University.