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Andrea Muirhead has been teaching the course Criminal Justice Systems at UCU, but also has had a successful career as a public prosecutor in the US, as well as teaching at various schools over the years. Andrea first came over to the Netherlands to teach in Utrecht in 2005. We sat down to talk about her teaching, transatlantic connections and her recommendations for students thinking about pursuing a career in the legal realm.

Thanks so much for spending the time to sit down with us. Can you tell us a little about your course, Criminal Justice Systems, and what that focuses on?

It’s a comparative criminal justice course.  It compares and contrasts various aspects of different criminal justice systems and criminal justice issues from the role of the police and how a person gets charged with a crime to how cases get resolved and the criminal trial process.  The course is a comparison primarily of the inquisitorial system, of which the Netherlands is an example, and the adversarial system, which originated in the UK, and was inherited by the US. The course doesn't just deal with those two systems, however. The material that we use really compares and contrasts systems worldwide, so we talk a little bit about Islamic systems, hybrid systems and the evolution of different criminal justice systems.  For various reasons countries are always changing and modifying their criminal justice systems. either because of foreign influence after a war, for example, like the Great War, World War Two, or other influences such as we see today, where countries examine what's working somewhere else and then tweak their own systems.

How did it come about that you started to teach at UCU?

When I lived in Florida, Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Florida are exchange partners and they had a very active exchange program back then. There was a summer program where ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Florida students that came over to Utrecht.  The history department in Utrecht organized a summer course on transatlantic relations and Dutch culture for the visiting students. Through that exchange program, I came over a couple of times and first gave a lecture in 2003. I became aware of ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ College through that relationship with Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ.

When I first taught at UCU, I came as a guest lecturer and taught a course about the intersection of crime, race and gender. It was supposed to be a one time thing and I was there in the fall semester of 2005. That was a fun class, but that was back before ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ College had very many law courses on offer, so it was a course before its time. Since then, ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ College Utrecht has expanded the course offerings. After teaching in 2005, I was invited back to teach again in the fall semester of 2007, but at that time I started teaching the Criminal Justice Systems course, and starting in 2009, I have taught the course during UCU’s summer term.

Did you have an affinity with Liberal Arts and Sciences education before you started to teach at UCU?

I'm familiar with the liberal arts system because I went to a liberal arts college in the United States, Kenyon College in Ohio, which has about 1500 students. I majored in English and history there. I think the liberal arts background gives you a lot of strength in various skills that are helpful for law in particular, and a lot of other careers as well. As a liberal arts student, you learn to read copious amounts of material, but think critically and really engage with the reading in a critical way. Students also really learn how to create their arguments and debate, and both in writing and orally present a topic and advocate for a position. So obviously when it comes to law, those are great skills to have.

It's so nice to come and teach at ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ College because the students are super motivated. They all come in already performing at high levels. For me as a teacher, it makes it really fun to teach, because like the minute we start going through the material I see hands are coming up. Students are thinking; what did I learn in that other class? how does this fit in with that? I see these light bulbs going off in students’ heads and they come up with great questions to try to assimilate this new knowledge they're getting with what they already have learned.

You also worked extensively in the legal field in the US, how were you able to balance that with your teaching activities?

I was a prosecutor in Florida, but I also taught trial advocacy, juvenile justice and other criminal justice related courses at the same time. I really have always enjoyed the teaching aspect and I was fortunate that my boss, who was the State Attorney in Florida, was awesome and gave me leaves of absence to come teach in Utrecht. After several years and promotions, eventually I was running a whole satellite office and he still allowed me to come to Utrecht in the summer. I was really lucky to be in a position where I could dedicate time to both sides of my career.

In 2018, I moved to Brevard, North Carolina from Florida. Brevard also has a small liberal arts college which is very similar in size to ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ College Utrecht. I taught full time for a year when I first moved to Brevard, but since then I've been teaching as an adjunct instructor.

What would you recommend to students at the college who might be considering a career in law?

What I recommend to any student is to find something they enjoy doing, something that interests them personally, regardless of what it is, because that's something that they're going to want to pursue. Law isn't for everybody, but if a student thinks they're interested, then they should take some law courses and see if that piques their interest even further. If they are still interested, I’d recommend getting exposure to a legal profession, through an internship or volunteer work at an NGO or law office, places that always like free help. If students want to stay in the Netherlands, the dual degree program is a great opportunity. In the US, our system is a little different. After you obtain your bachelor’s degree, You need to go to law school, which is a three year intensive legal studies program. After you get a law degree, you have to pass licensing exams to be able to practice law, and there have been some students from UCU that have attended law school and practiced law in the US.

What would do you consider the highlights of your career, either in academia or in in the legal profession?

I loved being a prosecutor, which may sound odd, but I really got a huge education on how foreign the realities of the lives of people who grew up differently from me could be, even in my own country. I lived in New England and when I moved to Florida and became a prosecutor, I became aware that the level of poverty in the South is way different than any level of poverty I ever knew. The same goes for education and race issues as well. As a prosecutor, you get an often intimate look at people's lives, sometimes at their worst moments, as victims or witnesses or perpetrators.

I handled misdemeanor cases, juvenile cases and felonies. I decided what cases I filed on and then I saw them through until they resolved by plea bargain or a trial. I never considered putting someone in prison as the goal. My goal was often to get the person to make a different choice the next time they're in a certain situation, and so give them some tools to help them make that choice differently next time. I think for both perpetrators and victims, restorative justice is very important. Some of the restorative justice measures that I implemented with juveniles, for instance, I would say are some of the highlights of my career. I've also had people I prosecuted come up to me and thank me, which you wouldn't think would ever happen, and could make you a little nervous when you are approached outside the courthouse.

Another of the highlights is the opportunity to teach at ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ College alongside being a prosecutor because I love teaching, I love working with students. I especially love seeing the light bulbs going off in their heads and realizing when they're making connections.

I've really enjoyed coming to Utrecht to teach. The Netherlands, I think is a great country and Utrecht is a special city. I'm also a cyclist, I love to cycle and the Netherlands is like the gold standard for cycling. I've made a lot of good friends over the years in Utrecht, people I stay in touch with all year round, people who've actually come to the United States to visit me and have stayed with me both in Florida and North Carolina. It's been a nice relationship with UCU over the years that I've really valued and treasure a lot.