Professor Burke teaches criminal law and criminal procedure subjects. Her research intersects criminal law and procedure and focuses on policing and prosecutorial policies. She has written about prosecutorial decision making, community policing and non-punitive responses to crime problems, and the criminal law's treatment of domestic violence, both in punishing batterers and in explaining the conduct of battered women. Professor Burke has published articles in the Michigan Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Washington Law Review, and William and Mary Law Review, among other journals.

Before joining the law school faculty in 2001, Professor Burke served as a deputy district attorney in Portland, Oregon, where she tried more than 30 criminal cases, primarily against domestic violence offenders, and helped innovate neighborhood-based prosecution methods. Professor Burke graduated with distinction from Stanford Law School, where she was elected to Order of the Coif, published a note on prosecutorial ethics in the Stanford Law Review, and was an articles editor of the Stanford Law and Public Policy Journal and a member of the Stanford Journal of International Law. She served as a law clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Professor Burke has served as a legal and trial commentator for television and radio programs. She is a member of the planning committee for the annual Northeast People of Color Conference. She is also the author of a series of crime novels published by Henry Holt.