Our Faculty

Courses I Teach

• Introduction to Sociology
• Criminology
• Juvenile Delinquency and Youth at Risk
• Family Violence
• Crime and Justice
• FYS: Violence: Causes and Consequences
• Race, Ethnic and Group Relations
• Deviant Behavior and Social Controls
• Senior Seminar in Sociology: Public Sociology
• Senior Seminar in Sociology: Sociology of Violence

In the past, I have also taught the following classes at other colleges or universities: Policing, Corrections and Alternatives, Prison Culture

Publications + Presentations

Peer Reviewed Publications (* indicates co-author is an Emmanuel College student or graduate)

• Free, J. (under review). "We're brokers": How youth violence prevention workers intervene in the lives  of high risk youth to reduce youth violence.  
• Križ, K. & Free, J.(under review). 'They're expecting everybody to come from a white-collar family': Ethnic and class biases against migrant students in the public education system.
• Free, J. (2017). ‘Is it our job to teach them to read or to act appropriately?': Teachers' and staff's perceptions of an alternative school.
• Free, J.,& Križ, K. (2016). "They know there is hope": How migrant educators support migrant students and their families in navigating the public school system. Children and Youth Services Review, doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.08.013
• Free, J., Križ, K., & Konecnik, J.* (2014). Harvesting hardships: Educators' views on the challenges of migrant students and their consequences on education. Children and Youth Services Review, 47, 187-197.
• Free, J. (2013). The importance of rule fairness: the influence of school bonds on at-risk students in an alternative school. Educational Studies, 40, 144-163.
• Free, J., & Konecnik, J.* (in preparation). Facing hardships: How migrant educators experience the challenges their migrant students bring to the classroom.

Scholarly Book Chapters

• Križ, K., Free, J., & Kuehl, G.* (2016). Court proceedings in child protection in the United States.,"chapter for an edited book entitled Socio-legal models of care order proceedings: Examining child protection decision-making, edited by Kenneth Burns, Tarja Pösö and Marit Skivenes. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Rabrenovic, G., Levin, J., Free, J., Keaney, C. and Mazaic, J. (2004). "Flag-Waving and Attitudes Toward Arab Americans" in Why We Hate by Jack Levin and Gordana Rabrenovic, pp. 221-231. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.
  
  (*indicates co-author is an Emmanuel College student or graduate)

A Selection of My Conference Paper Presentations

• April 2017, National Migrant Education Conference. Trials and triumphs: Teaching and supporting migrant students in the U.S. public school system, Orlando, FL.
• April 2017, National Migrant Education Conference. "They're expecting everybody to come from a white-collar family": How to navigate biases against migrant students in the public education system, Orlando, FL.
• April 2017, National Migrant Education Conference Facing hardships and providing hope:
  understanding the challenges migrant students bring to the classroom and offering support and hope, Orlando, FL.
• February 2017, Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting. "Is it our job to teach them to read or to act appropriately?": Teachers' and staff's perceptions of an alternative school, Philadelphia, PA.
• January 2017, National Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference. 'They're expecting everybody to come from a white-collar family': Ethnic and class biases against migrant students in the public education system, Las Vegas, NV.
• April 2016, Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting. Intervening and responding to youth violence: Exploring the formal and informal strategies of streetworkers (with Jenna Wilson*), Boston, MA.
• November 2015, Colleges of the Fenway Teaching and Learning Conference. Creating a safe space: How to talk about violence in the classroom, Boston, MA.
• January 2015, The Qualitative Sixth Annual Conference. Migrant Students' Social Hardships and Educational Challenges: An Exploratory Study Migrant Educators' Perceptions (co-authored with Katrin Kriz and Jenny Konecnik*), Fort Lauderdale, FL.
• September 2014, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management International Conference. Harvesting hardships in Florida: Educators' views on the challenges of immigrant migrant students and their consequences on education (presented by Katrin Kriz; co-authored with Katrin Kriz and Jenny Konecnik*), Segovia, Spain.
• March 2013, Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting. Reproducing Social Inequality via Student Ability Grouping in Schools, Boston, MA.
• February 2013, National Alternative Education Association Conference. School Discipline Policies for At-Risk Youth: Research (and Practice) Based Strategies that Work (and don't work!) and Understanding and Teaching Children who are Exposed to Violence, Atlanta, GA.
• February 2012 (invited presenter), National Conference on Alternative Education. Assessing the Effectiveness of an Alternative School Program and Classroom Teaching, Nashville, TN.
• February 2012, Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting. The Functions of Alternative Schooling for At-Risk Youth (with Amy Longwell* & Jen Konecnik*) and How Risk Factors Influence the Academic Lives of At-Risk Youth (with Bernadine Desanges*), New York, NY.
• November 2011, American Criminological Society Annual Meeting. The Importance of Fairness: School Bonds and At-Risk Youth, Washington, DC.
• February 2011, Eastern Sociological Society's Annual Meeting. The Influence of Students' School Bonds on Academic Performance and School Behavior, Philadelphia, PA.
• February 2011, National Conference on Alternatives to Expulsion, Suspension, and Dropping out of School. From Zero Tolerance to Alternative School by Way of Expulsion, Orlando, FL.
• March 2010, Eastern Sociological Society's Annual Meeting. Lives at Risk: Budget Cuts and Alternative Education, Boston, MA.
• February 2010, Eastern Educational Research Association Annual Conference. At-Risk Youth and Alternative Schooling, Savannah, GA.
• February 2010, National At-Risk Education Network. Six Successful Strategies for Educating At-Risk Youth, Panama City, FL.
• November 2008, New England Sociological Association Conference. Researcher and Community Activist: Exploring the Benefits of a Dual Identity, Stonehill College, Easton, MA.

Research Experience

My research interest developed as I worked for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections as a victim advocate. All too often I saw the revolving door of inmates entering and exiting prison - only to re-entering again...often quickly. I became interested in further understanding what can be done to keep individuals from becoming caught in this seemingly never ending cycle.

With this interest in mind, I returned to Northeastern University to pursue my PhD in Sociology with a specialization in Criminology. I began studying at-risk youth and the influence of education and schooling, both positive and negative, on this vulnerable population. My dissertation, entitled, "First step or last chance : at-risk youth, alternative schooling and juvenile delinquency," was based on over 750 hours of participant observation, 132 student surveys, and over 23 teacher interviews at an alternative school for at-risk youth. I examined the influence of alternative schooling on at-risk youth, many of whom were likely to end up in juvenile detention and eventually adult prison.

Since then I have studied another at-risk population, namely migrant at-risk youth and the role of education and schooling in their lives. Most recently, I interviewed 48 streetworkers who work with high-risk and proven-risk youth. Through the Faculty Development Committee at Emmanuel College, I have had the pleasure of hiring many students to work with me as research assistants on these various projects. I have thoroughly enjoyed mentoring and working alongside each of them. I look forward to continuing to involve them in my research in the future!