Corner View of Winston Hall
NC State University
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
 
About the Department

William R. Smith

RANK: Associate Professor

POSITION RESPONSIBILITY: Teaching Coures and Research in Sociology and Criminology

EDUCATION:

  • Ph.D. Rutgers University (1984)
  • M.A.. Rutgers University (1977)
  • B.A. St. Norbert College (1973)

POSITIONS HELD:

  • Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State Univeristy (1993-99)
  • Assistant Professor, Rutgers University (1985-93)

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

  • Social Ecology of Crime
  • Racial Profiling
  • Etiology of Delinquency
  • Sociology of Education
  • Fear of Crime

PROJECTS, GRANTS, CONTRACTS (LAST 10 YEARS):

  • 2004 Principal Investigator (With Matthew Zingraff). "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Stops of Pedestrians and Vehicles." Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. (8 months,
  • 2004 Fall. Scholarly Leave. "Comparative Analysis of Educational Commitment Processes and Delinquency: Sweden and the United States." Department of Sociology and Anthropology. College of Humanities and Social Sciences. North Carolina State University. One semester.
  • 2004 Co-Principal Investigator. (With Deborah Weisel and David Garson). "Motor Vehicle Theft: Regional Problem
    Analysis and GPS-Enhanced Mapping in a Rural Area." National Institute of Justice. Jan., 2004. (12 months,
    $86,618).
  • 2002-2003 Co-Principal Investigator. (With Matthew Zingraff, Elizabeth Davison, Kennon Rice, and Denise Bissler).
    Analysis of Arbitrary Profiling Data. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. (12 months, $51,202).
  • 1999-2001 Co-Principal Investigator. (With Patricia McCall). "Assessing the Relative Accuracy of Neural Network Models in Predicting Recidivism." NC Governor's Crime Commission. (12 months, $49,295).
  • 1999-2001 Co-Principal Investigator. (With Matthew Zingraff and Don Tomaskovic-Devey). "North Carolina Highway Traffic Study." National Institute of Justice. (24 months, $472,231).
  • 1999-2000 Co-Principal Investigator (With Matthew Zingraff and Don Tomaskovic-Devey.) "Driving While Black: Stops and Citations on North Carolina Highways." North Carolina Highway Safety Division. (12 months, $50,000).
  • 1998-99 Principal Investigator. "Assessing Risk in Prison and the Community." North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission and North Carolina Office of Research and Planning, NC Department of Corrections. (10 months, $20,414).
  • 1998-99 Principal Investigator (With Denise Bissler). Grant: "Fear of Crime in Two Public Housing Complexes." National Institute of Justice. (12 months, $63,000).
  • 1997-98 Co-Principal Investigator (With Matthew Zingraff and Patricia Garrett). "Project Success North Carolina: Remediating Linguistic Inefficiency." Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. (12 months, $25,000).
  • 1996 Scholarly Leave to the Department of Sociology, Stockholm University and the the Swedish National Police Academy, Stockholm Sweden.

TEACHING AND GRADUATE ACTIVITIES:

  • Teach Community and Crime, Juvenile Delinquency, Introductory Sociology at undergraudate level
  • Teach Research Methods in Criminology at graduate level
  • Supervise Completed Masters and Ph.D. Students since 1993: Kim King, Claudia Squire, Susan Greer, Elizabeth Davison, Sharon Frazee, Amanda Bailey, Dianne Gifford, Marcy Mason, Kennon Rice, Denise Bissler, Melissa Godwin, David Alston, Lisa Briggs.
  • Member of Graduate Student Ph.D. (Completed) Committees: Martin Floss, Jennifer Baron, Cheryl Banachowski-Fuller, Kirk Miller, Marcy Mason, Patricia Warren, Maria Febbo-Hunt, and Jim Brunet.

EXTENSION AND OUTREACH EFFORTS:

  • Implement program on how to teach inmates to read using a phonics program (began in 1998). Program used currently in North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, Morrison Youth Insitution and Polk Youth Institution.
  • Presentations to Citizen Advisory Group associated with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, 2002-2005, on the evidence of possible police racial bias and profiling.

SELECTED REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS (LAST 10 YEARS):

  • Smith,W. R. and M. T. Zingraff. 2005. "Analysis of 2003 Traffic and Pedestrian Stop Data for Charlotte-Mecklenburg County." Final Report to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
  • Smith, W. R., E. Davison, M. T. Zingraff, K. Rice, and D. Bissler. 2003. "An Empirical Investigation of the Possible Presence and Extent of Arbitrary Profiling in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department." Final Report to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
  • Smith, W. R., D. Tomaskovic-Devey, M.T. Zingraff, M. Mason, P. Warren, and C. P. Wright. 2003. "The North Carolina Highway Traffic Study." Final Report on Racial Profiling to the National Institute of justice.
  • Smith, W. R. and D. Bissler. 2003. "The Raleigh Community Study:Fear of Crime in Two Public Housing Contexts." Final Report on Public Housing to the National Institute of Justice.
  • Rice, K. and W. R. Smith. 2002. "Testing Routine Activity and Social Disorganization Theory: Socio-Ecological Models of Automobile Theft." Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 29(3):Vol. 39(3):304-336.
  • McCall, P. L., D. Bissler, and W. R. Smith. 2002. "Assessing the Relative Accuracy of Neural Network Models in Predicting Recidivism." Final Report Submitted to NC Governor's Crime Commission.
  • Davison, E. and W. R. Smith. 2001. "An Introduction to GIS for the Use of Analyzing Crime Patterns: A Case Study."
    Journal of Crime and Justice 24:85-108.
  • Smith, W. R., M. Torstensson, and K. Johansson. 2001 "Perceived Risk and Fear of Crime: Gender Differences in Contextual Sensitivity." International Review of Victimology. 8: 139-161.
  • Silver, E., W. R. Smith, and S. Banks. 2000. "Constructing and Evaluating Risk Screening Devices: a Comparison of Methods." Criminal Justice and Behavior. 27(6):733-764.
  • Smith, W. R., S. Frazee, and E. Davison. 2000. "Towards and Integration of Routine Activity and Social Disorganization Theories: A Socio-Ecological Analysis of Robbery." Criminology 38(2):489-523.
  • Zingraff, M., M.Mason, W. R. Smith, D. Tomaskovic-Devey, P. Warren, H. L. McMurray, and C. R. Fenlon. 2000. "Evaluating North Carolina State Highway Patrol Data: Citations, Warnings and Searches in 1998". Final Report to the NCSHP.
  • Smith, W. R., P. Garrett, and M. Zingraff. 1999. Preliminary Evidence of the Success of SMSIP in North Carolina. Final Report Prepared for Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
  • Smith, W. R., and M. Aloisi. 1999. "Prediction of Recidivism Among 'Second Timers' in the Juvenile Justice System: Efficiency in Screening Chronic Offenders." American Journal of Criminal Justice. 23(2):201-222.
  • Smith, W. R. and D. R. Smith. 1998. "The Consequences of Error: Recidivism Prediction and Civil-Libertarian Ratios." Journal of Criminal Justice. 26(6):1-23.
  • Smith, W. R. and M. Torstensson. 1997. "Gender Differences in Risk Perception and Neutralizing Fear of Crime: Toward Resolving the Paradoxes." British Journal of Criminology. 37(4):607-633.
  • Smith, W. R. 1996. "The Effects of Base-Rate and Cut-Off Point Choice on Commonly-Used Measures of Association and Accuracy in Recidivism Research." Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 12(1): 83-112.

SERVICE ACTIVITIES:

  • Editor, Newsletter of the Crime, Law and Deviance Section of the American Sociological Association 2005-current.
  • Member, Executive Council of the North Carolina Sociological Association 2004-current.
  • Member of American Society of Criminology, Southern Sociological Society, American Sociolical Association, North Carolina Sociological Association, current.
  • Program Area Chair, American Society of Criminology Annual Meetings, Washington DC, 1998.
  • Advisor for the Taylor Sociology Club 1997 - current.
  • Member, Editorial Board of Contemporary Sociology (Review Journal of the American Sociological Association) 1998-2000.
  • Chair of the Undergraduate Committee, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, NCSU, 2002-3.

HONORS, AWARDS, OTHER IMPORTANT ACTIVITIES:

  • Advisor of the Year, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, NCSU 1998.
  • Baseball Coach, Raleigh Parks and Recreation, 1997-2005.
  • Vice-President of the Enloe Eagles Athletics Booster Club, 2005-6.

FUTURE PLANS:

  • Research on etiology of delinquency
  • Research on social ecology of crime
  • Grant research on possible racial profiling by police