Containment Theory of Crime

RecklessÆs ôcontainmentö theory of crime falls loosely into the category of control theories of crime. Some proponents of control theory û particularly early proponents of this family of theories -- saw control theories as fundamentally different from social learning and all other theories of crime. This is based on the fact that control theory has as its core the questions: Why is anyone a law-abiding citizen? Why does anyone conform to social rules and conventions? In contrast to this, other theories (including social learning theories and many theories of delinquency based in systems of moral thought) have asked why some people deviate from social norms to perform criminal acts. Control the

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quent youths are linked to delinquent attitudes (both in terms of how they see themselves and in terms of how others see them) is both bad science and not particularly interesting, this does not mean that RecklessÆs model itself is not useful, merely that it was not tested in a sufficiently rigorous way to demonstrate what usefulness it might have. RecklessÆs work is in fact based on basically sound underlying principles. Containment and social control theories in general are based on broad-ranging psychological theories that model and seek to explain the most basic processes of human cognition; moreover, these broader theories have implications not only for an understanding of criminal behavior by scholars but for the underpinnings of public policy that citizens in a democracy must decide upon. Control theories make the central assumption that people are likely to commit crime unless they can ôcontainö the impulse to do so, either because of internal controls (such as conscience) or external controls (such as formal legal strictures). (Interestingly, this assessment of human nature accords both with one put forth by a number of religions, including Christianity, with its doctrine of original sin, as well as with ideas central to
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Gottfredson Hirschi, Reiss NyeÆs, Walter Reckless, Ivan Nye, References Akers, Reiss Nye, social learning, control theories, akers 1997, rational choice, criminal behavior, control theory, , rational actor, recklessÆs model, people act, social learning theories, rational choice theory, University Reckless, people commit, Roxbury Durkheim, rational actor models, social learning theory, people commit crimes, York Appleton-Century-Crofts,
Approximate Word count = 2963
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)