Browsing by Author "Matthew Zingraff, Committee Member"

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    Race, Class and Trust: Perceptions of the Police in North Carolina
    (2006-07-26) Warren, Patricia Yvonne; Melvin Thomas, Committee Member; Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Committee Chair; William R. Smith, Committee Member; Matthew Zingraff, Committee Member
    The purpose of this research is to re-examine factors that affect perceptions of the police. Previous research has consistently argued that African Americans are more likely to question police legitimacy (Reis 1971; Bayley & Mendelsohn 1969; Weitzer 1999; Weitzer & Tuch 2004; Sampson & Bartusch 1998). Much of this research has emphasized the importance of race, social class, and community context. However, there has been little effort in this research to situate these findings in a theoretical context. Therefore, this research used two theoretical frameworks — identity theory and cognitive bias theory - to explain the race gap in perceptions of the police. Two outcomes were estimated to assess the race gap in perceptions of the police behavior — perceptions of police treatment and perceptions of police fairness. The first set of models captured how racial and class identity impact perceptions of police treatment. In essence these models assessed what are the race and class differences in perceptions of disrespect by the police. They also examined the extent to which perceptions of disrespect are tied to identities or a more generic process. The next, set of models examined the importance of race and class identities and their impact on perceptions of police fairness. These models were estimated in order to assess what factors people use to make assessments about police fairness. African American citizens, respondents who have heard negative stories about police behavior, those who believe police engage in racial profiling and those respondents with more long-standing distrust of social institutions in society are less likely to trust the police and they are also more likely to perceive disrespect by the police. It is also the case that personally experiencing disrespect by the police, hearing negative stories about police behavior, belief in police profiling and distrust of the other governmental institutions explains a large portion of the race gap in perceptions of the police.
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    The Social Context of Inmate Misbehavior: A Contextual Analysis of Infractions in North Carolina Prisons
    (2003-04-08) Frazee, Sharon Glave; William R. Smith, Committee Chair; Patricia McCall, Committee Member; Rodney Engen, Committee Member; Matthew Zingraff, Committee Member
    Inmate misbehavior is a relatively common phenomenon in correctional facilities throughout the United States. While many steps have been taken by correctional authorities to curb such behavior, their level of success is hampered by the lack of information on how social context affects inmate behavior. This research proposes to look at how context interacts with individual characteristics to affect rates of prison infractions in a variety of prison settings. Two major theories of inmate misbehavior, importation and prisonization, are tested and extended using hierarchical linear models on 1997 North Carolina prison population data.