Katie Knoll-Frey
Assistant Professor
Background
Dr. Frey began her undergraduate career in a 3+3 law program with a focus on political science. As she took courses she found a love of criminology and criminal justice and decided to double major, while also doing a math minor (for fun!). As she neared graduation, she decided to pursue a masters degree in criminal justice, continuing to love the field. Ultimately, she decided to pursue a doctorate degree at the top program in the field, where she found her passion to pursue research on incarceration. She gained a strong understanding of the impacts incarceration has on individuals, families, and communities and used her research to explore ways to help those impacted by the system. When she heard of John Carroll and the Jesuit mission, she was very excited to apply and eagerly accepted the position in the Sociology and Criminology department.
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\Now, Dr. Frey has found her home in Cleveland and enjoys her time here with her daughter, Orianna and spouse, Andrew. She also has three dogs: Arty, Bailey, and Zula as well as three snakes: Neeko, Darrow, and Rayla. In her free time, Dr. Frey loves to read Fantasy and Sci-fi books, play video games, cook, and of course bake delicious goods.
Areas of Expertise
Dr. Frey has an extensive background in criminology and criminal justice. She has taught courses covering all aspects of the criminal justice system from policing to courts and sentencing, to corrections. She also has expertise in criminological theory and victimology. Dr. Frey also has a strong background in statistical methodology and data analysis.
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\Dr. Frey's research has focused on incarcerated populations. Her dissertation research focused on comparing differences in recidivism for people incarcerated in prisons compared to jails. She used advanced econometric methods to compare similarly situated individuals with comparable traits and sentences to predict the likelihood of recidivating.
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\Her research has expanded to study attitudes towards incarcerated people and ways to reduce that stigma. She has worked with students on various projects including testing how crime shows impact punitive attitudes, how letter writing to death row inmates affects the letter writers, and understanding disparate attitudes towards state sanctioned death.
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\Dr. Frey also has published an article on her exam method in the classroom that heavily involves student participation and encourages critical thinking. She is continuing her innovative classroom work to continue developing a pedagogical research profile.
Research Interests
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- \ Differences across prisons and jails\ \
- \ Attitudes towards incarcerated people: ways to reduce stigma\ \
- \ Criminological theory testing\ \
- \ Pedagogy in the classroom\ \
Education
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- \ Ph.D., Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland College Park (2018)\ \
- \ M.A., Criminal Justice, University of Albany, SUNY (2010)\ \
- \ B.A., Criminal Justice and Political Science, University of Albany, SUNY (2008)\ \
Courses Taught
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- \ SC 1600 Introduction to Law and Society\ \
- \ SC 2200 Criminal Justice Systems\ \
- \ SC 2400 Criminology\ \
- \ SC 2650 Victimology\ \
- \ SC 3000 Death Penalty\ \
- \ SC 3450 Corrections\ \
- \ SC 3510 Sociological Data Analysis\ \
- \ SC 3520 Research Analysis Lab\ \
- \ SC 3640 Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice\ \
Publications
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- \ Knoll-Frey, Kathleen. (2024). Using active student participation to cultivate critical thinking in examinations. Pedagogies: An International Journal. 1-9.\ \
- \ Knoll-Frey, Kathleen. & Mattison, Theresa.* (2023). Netflix and crime: the influence of modern media. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. 23 (2): 106 – 125.\ \
- \ Knoll-Frey, Kathleen & Hodwitz, Omi. The invisible defendant: female extremists in the Balkan Peninsula. (2022). In Gender-Disaggregated Data: Regional Analyses Of Criminal Justice Outcomes In Terrorism Prosecutions. https://www.coedat.nato.int/16-GenderDisaggregatedData.pdf\ \
- \ Knoll-Frey, Kathleen, Richard Clark, & Amy Kato*. Letters to hell – correspondence with death row inmates. (2022) Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 61 (3): 310-328.\ \
- \ Hodwitz, Omi & Kathleen Frey. Anomic suicide: A Durkheimian analysis of European normlessness. (2016) Sociological Spectrum. 36(4): 236-254.\ \
