But Corey has detractors as well, who cast her as too aggressive.

Three petitions on the website change.org, calling for her to be removed from office, have about 2,500 signatures combined. One complains that she prosecutes too many cases without adequate regard for the facts.

A petition calling for 12-year-old Cristian Fernandez to be treated as a juvenile rather than an adult has nearly 185,000 signatures. He is accused of violently killing his 2-year-old brother.

Corey has said she has compassion for Cristian, but that "it's not my job to forgive."

And the two professors state in their report that Corey's propensity for bringing charges "poses great strain on the system and there has already been conflict between Ms. Corey's office and the sitting judges due to the increased caseload. Even sitting judges agree that it's Ms. Corey's office driving the higher incarceration."

On her 2008 campaign website, Corey vowed to "continue my excellent working relationship with law enforcement so that together we can vigorously fight crime. Only then can we make our community among the safest in the nation."

It's a commitment she has expressed in interviews with CNN and HLN about the Martin case.

"Every aspect of both the shooter and the victim will be looked at and analyzed as it relates to the evidence in this case," Corey vowed to HLN.

Discussing Florida's "stand your ground" law -- which allows people to use deadly force in situations in which they feel a reasonable threat of death or serious injury -- Corey said, "our laws are very clear that it has to be a forcible felony and that a reasonable person would have to believe that deadly force is necessary as opposed to just physical force, fighting back and that sort of thing. I've prosecuted a woman who shot her husband and killed him because he slapped her, and we argued that was not deadly force and she was convicted and sent to state prison."

The "political outcry" over the Trayvon Martin case makes prosecutors' work harder, she said.