Sociation January 1999
Volume 25, Number 1
Helen Ladd to Address Density and Urban Costs
We are also happy
to announce that Helen Ladd, a national authority on social
policy, has been added to the program. She will be speaking to
us on her research on urban density and costs to public
government. Her nationally-known work shows that costs to
government are greatest at both lowest and highest levels of
human density. Professor Ladd, of the Terry Sanford Institute at
Duke University will be at the 11:45 session on density and the
human environment.
New this year will be a social evening on Thursday, February 18 at 7 PM with entertainment provided by the NCCU Jazz Band. Snacks and a drink ticket will be provided at the Governor's Inn. We want this to be an evening when sociologists and sociology students can socialize and get to know each other. Formal meetings do not allow time for colleagues from different schools to get to know each other in an informal setting. Please try to attend and bring students with you. Or, if you are a student, bring your faculty. Invite them.
Louis Wirth was always associated with studying the social consequences of size, density and heterogeneity. Yet today we find many groups outside sociology who have never heard of Louis Wirth or empirical research, but have convinced themselves that increasing urban density will bring people closer together, create communities and solve social problems. Past research and even experiments in helping behavior sparked by the murder of Catherine Genovese in New York City are ignored or dismissed by internet flame warriors who believe that the future must be different from the past. We need to recapture the public's imagination on these issues.
Changing technology has caused our cities to evolve in different ways, although in the United States metropolitan decentralization began over 100 years ago. The spatial analysis of human behavior has been difficult to research in the past. New technology now makes such analysis possible even in the classroom. We are fortunate this year to be able to present a demonstration by Taylor Technics of an inexpensive GIS system suitable for research and classroom use. Dick Taylor will demonstrate the GIS system to us at a special section using membership patterns of the NCSA as an example. No doubt he will also prove that our older teaching techniques suffer from "culture lag!" Later we will demonstrate to you a complete sociology course on the Web and show how to teach sociology with interactive simulations.
On the ballot this year you will see a proposal that the NCSA set up a committee to work with authorities to open jobs to our students who are getting degrees in sociology. Although our students have good experience with data analysis and with other skills needed in government, we have increasingly seen opportunities artificially limited by a creeping professionalization which has limited opportunity for those fully qualified to work in the areas of social service and social sciences. We already have volunteers for such a committee. Please be sure to look at the initiative carefully.
At our business meeting this year, we need to have a discussion on Legislative Day, an activity which was again canceled this year. Two divergent viewpoints have emerged as to the function of Legislative Day. Are we to use the day to show students how government works? Or are we to use Legislative Day to speak to legislatures on issues the NCSA would like to present? How do we sign up to participate? We need some brainstorming on these issues. The NCSA meeting this year promises to be exciting and to discuss important issues. Hope to see you there on February 18 for "The First Annual Traditional North Carolina Gathering of Sociologists" and for the formal meeting on February 19.
The Keynote Address
will be by J. John Palen, Professor of Sociology at VCU, who will speak
to us on "Bringing Our Concepts Home: Sociology in the Ecological Context."
Professor Palen is the noted author of the widely-used textbook "The Urban
World," now in its fifth edition.
At 9:45 we have arranged for Taylor
Technics to
demonstrate the lastest software for
GIS displays for research and classroom instruction. This demonstration
will emphasize how we can look at social
patterns in their ecological context. Taylor Technics will demonstrate
the GIS system by using the geographic
distribution of the membership of the NCSA.
At 12:30 we will hold the Annual Awards Luncheon. Dinner will be served and advanced tickets are required for the luncheon. In order to keep prices down, we had to pick just one menu, so we selected a vegetarian luncheon quiche. At this time we will announce the winner of the 1999 Contributions to Sociology award.
From 2:00-2:45 members again have a choice of two panels to attend.
Richard Dixon will preside over a panel on Technology and the Teaching
of Sociology. Professor Dixon has developed a complete introductory
sociology course on the World Wide Web.
The second presenter will be Chien Ju Huang who will talk on
teaching a cross-disciplinary social science course using
web-based simulations.
The president-elect of the NCSA will serve as the program chair for next year's annual meeting. Following a year as president, this person will serve for one year as a member of the Executive Council.
Members of the NCSA are asked
to voted on the following proposal regarding a legislative agenda for sociologists
in
the state. For the second year, a proposed Legislative Day was tabled
because of a lack of organization and a clear sense
of what sociologists in the state want to accomplish. The goal of opening
state employment opportunities for sociology
majors has often been mentioned as a primary objective.
The proposal and resulting
agenda will be further discussed at the business meeting.
members of the North Carolina Sociological Association recommend that state-level social service/social science jobs be reclassified and opened to persons with degrees in sociology.
Accordingly,
the Executive Council of the NCSA shall appoint a task force to work with the appropriate personnel offices in the State of North Carolina and with private agencies to reclassify and open state-level social service/social science jobs to persons with degrees in sociology.
Please take a moment to update your information. Be sure to include your most current information.
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Registration for the 1999 NCSA Meeting, February 18-19, 1999, at The
Governor's Inn, Research Triangle Park, NC.
_____professional members $6.75 (Late registration $10.00)
_____student members $2.00
1999 Awards Luncheon Banquet, The Governor's Inn, Feb. 19, 12:30-2
PM. (Vegetarian quiche)
_____Luncheon Banquet $13.25 (pre-registration required)
Total amount enclosed (dues plus registration and luncheon):__________
Please enclose a check for your 1999 dues in the amount indicated above. Make all checks payable to the North Carolina Sociological Association. Mail this form and your check to:
Dr. Pat Wyatt
Secretary-Treasurer, NCSA
Department of Sociology
Catawba College
Salisbury, NC 28144
Questions about membership and dues should be directed to Dr. Wyatt. If you have any difficulties concerning the receipt of SOCIATION (incomplete address, misspelled name, new apartment number, etc.), please contact its editor, Lee Dodson, Rockingham Community College, P.O. Box 38, Wentworth, NC 27375-0038 (336-342-4261, ext. 155; e-mail: dodsonl@rcc.cc.nc.us).
The 1999 Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Sociological Association will be held at the Radisson Governor's Inn in the Research Triangle Park. The hotel is reached from Exit 280, Davis Drive, from Interstate 40. The Governor's Inn is well-known meeting place in the region.
A concessionary rate of $80
a night is offered to members and guests of the NCSA, a considerable savings.
The cutoff
date is February 14. Individual reservations must be called in at hotel
at 919-549-8631. Identify yourself as a NCSA
member. The group code is G-4035.
(We continue below our series on The Sociology of North Carolina
Please submit suggestions for future reviews to George H. Conklin).
First Offender Program
The North Carolina First Offender Program was set up in 1990 in order to provide structured alternative sentencing and substance abuse education for first-time misdemeanor drug and alcohol offenders. In theory the program does not allow for bias in sentencing since outcome is based on performance of the offender. Prior to the offender's court date, he/she must complete a 15-hour education program and not be convicted of any subsequent charges while enrolled. Those who finish the program are found not guilty. Those who do not complete the program are found guilty in District Court.
The Sample
All 753 first-time alcohol and drug offenders in Wake County, North Carolina in the first three years of the program (1990-1993) were included in the study. There were 602 males and 151 females. 25.3 per cent were African Americans, the mean age at first offense was 24, and the average educational level was 11 years.
The Results of the Program
Because the dependent variable had only two values (guilty=0 or not guilty=1), maximum likelihood logistic regression analysis was used to study the correlates of the completion of the program. Table 1 shows that educatinal level, race, marital status, student-status and seriousness of offense all were correlates of successful completion of the program and thus the sentence handed out by the courts. The age, sex or state of origin of the offender did not influence the outcomes. (Note that the ordering of the variables in the table does not influence the signficance levels).
Discussion of the Results
In the first three years of the program, African Americans offenders were much judged more harshly than whites. Only 30 percent of African Americans completed the program while 63 percent of whites did. Jankovic (1978) predicts this finding. This is distressing since one of the goals of the program was to eliminate racial disparity in sentencing. The more serious the charge, the less likely the completion of the program. It was surprising to find that married offenders were less likely to complete the program. Being a student helped predict success in the program.
Implications of the Findings
Since one of the goals of the First Offender program was to eliminate racial disparty in outcomes, it would be hard to assume the program has been a success, even with the controls for the variables available.
But one important variable not collected by the court was resources such as transporation. The classes required were held in Cary, a very up-scale community far from Raleigh for those without a car. The Triangle Transit Authority ran only two daily routes to the class location and the routes left from Raleigh at 8 AM and 9:15 AM while the classes were offered only at 6:30 to 9 PM.
It is clear that there remains a need for further research of new programs to insure that their design does not erect barriers to completion to all those who are required to participate as part of the legal system.
Table 1
Maximum Likelihood Logistic Regression of Convictions
(Guilty=0, Not Guilty=1)
_____________________________________________________________
Variable Beta Chi Square Probability
Constant 3.9 22.61 0.000
Offense
(1=alcohol, -0.45 19.86 0.000
2=paraphernalia
3=marijuana
4=combination of
2 and 3
Race
(1=black/other, -0.65 45.02 0.000
0=white
Student
(0=non-student
1=student) 0.28 5.94 0.015
Marital Status -0.31 4.94 0.026
(1=single, 2=ever
married, 3=married)
Grade
(higest grade
attained) -0.22 20.65 0.000
State
(1=NC, 2=other) 0.52 1.64 0.100
Sex
(0=female, 1=male) 0.08 .52 0.470
Age of Offender -0.00 .01 0.934
(in years)
_____________________________________________________________
References
Chicicos, T.G. and Waldo, G. (1975). "Socioeconomic Status and Criminal Sentencing: An Empirical Assessment of a Conflict Proposition." American Sociological Review 40:753-777.
Jankovic, I. (1978). "Social Class and Criminal Sentencing." Crime and Social Justice 10:9-16.
Unnever, J.D. and Hembroff, L.A. (1988). "The Prediction of Racial/Ethnic Sentencing Disparities: An Expectation States Approach." Journal of Research and Crime and Delinquency 25:53 82.
Walker, M.A. (1983). "The Court Disposal and Remands of White, Afro
Caribbean and Asian Men." British Journal
of Criminology 29:353-367.