Catalina Pérez Correa recieved her Law Degree from the Instituto Teconológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), her master’s degree (JSM) from the Stanford Programme in International Legal Studies (SPILS) at the Stanford University Law School in California and her doctorate (JSD) also from the Stanford University Law School. During her doctorate she studied mexican criminal procedure from an empirical and interdisciplinary perspective, focusing primarily on the study of criminal prosecution and investigation practices in Mexico City.

She currently works at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, CIDE. Her research focuses on the study of legal procedures and practices from a sociological and anthropological perspectives, specializing in the functioning of the criminal justice system; the justifications for and enforcement of criminal punishment (namely prisons) and the relation of criminal punishment with legitimacy and compliance.