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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Think that federal prosecution is a job for men?

Then meet Krishna Patel, assistant U.S. attorney for Connecticut. She works on criminal cases that could make even grown men weep with rage.

Patel recently became the coordinator of the Federal Project Safe Childhood - a federal initiative to prosecute crimes against children - specifically sex crimes such as Internet pornography, sex with minors and sex trafficking.

The job certainly isn't for the fainthearted. Patel, 38, has dealt hands-on with large and complex cases involving young girls who were smuggled across U.S. borders for prostitution rings.

She's also caught men who have crossed state lines to have sex with minors they met on the Internet.

An expert in criminal immigration, Patel is currently working on a case involving a prostitution ring led by a New York man who prostituted five girls - the youngest only 12 years old - across New England.
Cases such as these, she says, are heartbreaking.

"This job makes you realize how absolutely horrible people in the U.S. can be," said Patel. "It's unbelievable. Being a prosecutor is about putting bad people in jail. I think my job enables me to have an impact on a group of people in a way that only we can do. To be able to affect good policy is to constantly be able to be in a position to do what's right. It's a luxury that we are guided by."

Patel said that she could have gone the "guns and drugs" route after her first job in commercial litigation at Winston and Strawn LLP's office in New York City.

But she said that prosecuting larger crimes like illegal drugs and guns allows for little interaction with actual victims, unlike her current work.

The average day on the job for Patel includes 15 to 20 rotating cases, some complex, some simple. The cases usually come from FBI tips or Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with whom she works closely.

Investigating takes up most of her time, and cases often change dramatically as they develop from what Patel refers to as their "covert vs. overt" stages. She said that she likes to go along with her agents on interviews if the victims are minors.

"The cases involving kids are the most important, such as ones involving the production of child pornography and the like," she said.

"You feel like you can help them so much by prosecuting the person that hurt them and putting them away. I'd say the hardest part about it is that you can't take them through the healing steps afterwards, such as social services, to ever really see what happens to them. But you can make sure that the predator is off the streets and will never do the same thing to anyone else again. That's the most satisfying part of my job."

Patel grew up in Kenya, among a large community of Indian immigrants. When she was in the fourth grade she came to the United States with her mother, who didn't want Patel to attend a British boarding school in Africa.

They moved in with family in New Jersey, and her father joined them shortly thereafter.

With a mother who worked as a wildlife artist and a father who was a geologist, Patel always assumed her parents wanted her to take up science.

But the Rutgers alum said that she always knew she'd go into law, taking a strong interest in politics, government and American history in high school and throughout college. She said her decision to go into law was unusual for an Indian at the time.

"In terms of having role models of South Asians in the different sectors of law, government and the judiciary system, they were just not there," Patel said. "It's not part of my world and not part of my everyday experience, but I'm used to it."

Patel, who is married and has a 6-year-old son, says that it was always important for her to have her own career.

"Culturally, I grew up in an environment where women have very few choices, so it was always important for me to work," she said. "Watching my mother give up a very comfortable life for just a nice one, so that I could have more opportunities, was a huge influence on me. But I love my work so much that I feel like you're living half a life and depriving yourself if you don't work."

Patel's husband, Divyesh, was born in Uganda and his parents were expelled from Rwanda during the civil war. He grew up in London before studying in the United States, where he met Patel.

When asked if she feels her upbringing and culture have influenced her career choice, Patel says absolutely - and in every aspect.
She said that growing up among many cultures helped her relate to people of various backgrounds, which is important in a job where she works with immigrants, some of whom are in the United States illegally. One of the most crucial parts of any case, she says, is earning trust.

"My case is only as strong as my victim. These people come from countries where they understandably don't trust law enforcement, because it's corrupt. And they're usually terrified of being deported."
The passionate prosecutor, who speaks fluent Gujarati and embraces the teachings of Buddhism, says that there is nothing else she'd rather be doing.

"At the end of the day, you have to look at your life and the choices you've made and be able to feel like you've made a difference somehow. So, even if it's not a field that traditionally sees a lot of Indian women, I think the more we can encourage and affect the larger population by showing we're capable of being a part of this world, the better."

Source: INDIAnewEngland.com [2]

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