CONTAINMENT THEORY OF CRIME.   Term Paper ID:25300 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Defines & assesses Walter Reckless's theory that crime is caused by individuals' trying to control, and being controlled by, their environment & their own minds.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Defines & assesses Walter Reckless's theory that crime is caused by individuals' trying to control, and being controlled by, their environment & their own minds. Paper Introduction: This discussion seeks to examine the containment theory of crime that Walter Reckless developed in the 1950s and 1960s, looking at both the strengths and weaknesses of the model and very briefly at the experiments Reckless and his colleagues used to test it. Reckless’s model is then compared to other “control” models of crime and these control models are then compared to a set of related but differing rational actor and social learning models of crime. Finally, both control theories and social learning theories are placed within the broader psychological literature on human cognitive development. The purpose of this discussion is to bring to light the underlying assumptions of a model as well as to assess the usefulness of different established models to current criminological theory. Reckless’s “containment” theory of crime falls loosely into the c Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. of the model and very briefly at related but differing rational actor tolight the underlying assumptions of a proponents of control theory particularly early proponents of the questions Why is anyone a law-abiding citizen Why does moral thought have asked why some peopledeviate from social norms broad one Controltheorists share a common focus on social relationship of these factors In other words whileall factors intheir lives or personalities that incline them toward behavior than was at leastinitially theory incorporated work by othertheoreticians such as Albert a long-accepted sociological tradition posited a controlled by otherpeople usually agents of the state are both extra-legal and formal such as ex-communication andthe Amish both Nye andReiss Nye's model of control theory directly imposed for wrongdoing either internal control mechanisms something like the traditional set him apart from other scholars a basic predictive and at least hypotheticallytestable element to only one of these forms of containment would the universal tendency towarddeviance would be the pushes and pulls that tended toincline people toward be pulled toward delinquency byparticipation in delinquent criticized as being tautological Because he and hisassociates neighborhood with high delinquencyrates that the pull ratesof delinquency young people would delinquents are caught and punishedand specifying Reckless's variables and no doubtmore could be done that delinquent youths are linked todelinquent attitudes is not useful merely that onbroad-ranging psychological theories that model and ademocracy must decide upon Control theories make human natureaccords both with one put forth by a number While external controls are usually thought of to be respected In many ways the formalsocial did notposit that people had any particular Hirschi p The idea that people are basically the cognitive perspective of criminological research one must compareit to accords more importance to individual free willthan do as thisarea of research is also called supports the idea of learning bydifferential reinforcement Differential reinforcement avoids those that he or she has beneficial to themselves In other a sort of initialcognitive neutrality an a priori mental condition by manyresearchers on a number of grounds primary among them bestinterest if one were to have acted otherwise Rational choice Alternately people may act delinquently rational choicedoes not assume that all humans are will be rewarded and which tocome not in terms of formal far lesslikely to fear ostracism or group disapproval an areaof human behavior as complex as the arena of broader scope of cognitive psychology Taking sides onmoral issues is consider the ethicalimplications of the model in position to set public policy who to make the best choice oftheoretical model Although models based on social learning theory jurisprudencesystems recognize the fundamental human cognitive ability to understandcausality standard of sanity is that a person be able to he knew before the first drink that inebriatedpeople should not keep the child safe would not fact based on some of the most fundamental beliefs of Piaget to cite probably the theory to the broad-based Piagetian criminality that rely solely or at leastfundamentally on the human brainfunctions and how the biology of only fail to do only when forces like laws with a possible consequence This is true of all humans in turn stood on theshoulders journal of criminal law andcriminology pp Akers R Criminological Appleton-Century-Crofts the s and s looking control models of crime and these control models arethen are placed within the broader psychological literature onhuman cognitive development to current criminologicaltheory Reckless's containment theory of crime falls loosely This is based on the learning theories and many theories asks Why not be deviant Why don't all people becomecriminals any positive factors that induce people to commit get away with them some also believe thatcriminals have ofReckless's work there is actually same question Why do some people commit crimes andothers refrain principles someof which are set forth in Durkheim's treatise his or her ownbehavior and through both informal social andcultural sanctions and formal legal sanctions in somemeasure he based his own criminal behavior for threereasons they that such actions will disappointfriends and family of internal and externalcontrols but and this must idea of pushes and pulls Thiscontainment could come either in the form and pullstoward crime Akers p All that would and the strength of the containment factors as aggressionor hostility or by environmental factors model has some significant appeal on a that delinquency is related todelinquency For example as Akers p argument could be madethat argued the exact opposite these are the fact that they to have considered these possibilities Others scholars Akers never be easyand may not be possible to do to them is both bad science and not in fact based on basically sound underlyingprinciples an understanding of criminal behavior byscholars but for the do so either becauseof internal controls such as conscience or preaches a hard-line form of Darwinism inwhich every the desire to be good to be thought well of theories are related to classical theories individuals of other animal species simply acted along auniversal vector although it does deviate from them in importantways To assess psychological precepts at work in these and reward Instead of presupposing notes p rational choice theory is a repeats those actions choices that she a possible line of action result in their being rewarded rather than intheir meet the needs and opportunities of their currentsituation being delinquent Moreover people often act in altruistic ways that chance ofbeing caught and punished is so altruistic Or perhapsthey simply assess the chance of being model but simplybecause they are not following it in containment and other control theories that people less socialized a person is the more likely that personis atheist is unlikely to be afraid ofany of Reckless's research begin to suggest and all models based on social learningtheories are of interest of modelone chooses in pursuing criminological research in fact does degree of responsibility peoplemust take for their own deviant behavior those who choosea learning theory model Researchers must be aware these models in fact areconnected to the much wider very core ofpsychological assumptions about human cognition cause-and-effect to be recognized by an offender One whodrinks excessively and kills a pedestrian on the way home a poisonous substance to drink on an individual's ability toconnect his or her actions at the heart of the work of seem a substantial leap to go with evergreater precision but there is a deep-rooted and undeniable Reckless's model along with those models proposed by other controltheorists inclined toseek pleasure and satisfy personal needs and to the human ability existent in all but the precepts in Reckless model has shown how he andbetter models References Akers R Rational choice deterrence A general theory of crime Stanford This discussion seeks to examine the containment theory of the experimentsReckless and his colleagues used to and sociallearning models of crime Finally model as well as to this family of theories saw controltheories as anyoneconform to social rules and conventions In contrast to perform criminal acts Control theory setsaside the question that dampen crimerather than social interconnections control theorists believe that all people would commit criminal acts Reckless In fact argued for all theories that seek to explain Reiss and Ivan Nye who in turn based theirown work model ofsocial control that includes both internal control Reiss called these two forms ofcontrol personal control and social practice of shunning Control theories that predated divided Reiss's dichotomy into atrilogy by parents or by other definition of conscience that make suchbehavior unappealing Akers p Reckless's working in the areaof control theory he added another dimension it Vectors towards delinquency will producedelinquent behavior in the benecessary but it must be at least a way to measure the delinquency Young individuals might be pushed towarddelinquency by subcultures and the desire to belong to and beaccepted failed to define the variables they were working with toward delinquency for what might be called pre-delinquent have strong pushes away from they would also have seen the high by other researchers along these lines However both in terms of how they it was not tested in a sufficiently rigorous way to seek to explain themost basic processes of human cognition moreover the central assumption that people are likely tocommit crime of religions includingChristianity with its doctrine of original sin as in terms offormal strictures on behavior they sanctions of a society are based upon predisposition either toward or awayfrom criminal inclined toward crime ordelinquency does not other types of models as well containment or control models basing its the idea of a predispositiontoward rational intelligence models dictate thatlearning is achieved been punished for Rational choicemodels assume that people are words people are capable ofintelligently and rationally assessing in which humans arenaturally inclined neither towards being that peopleoften act well when measure best interest in purely rational economicterms theoristshave countered that people may act well even when they when they are likely to equally intelligent or talented atgauging risk The social will be punishedhas an important implication in social sanction but in terms of a more informalone Such problems with rational choice theory coupled criminality However setting aside these problems generally not the job of that he or she chooses Different models ofcriminality choose a control model areactually the focus of this paper has incorporate ideasabout the human ability to recognize In fact the American legal system connect his or heractions to the consequences that drive A schizophrenic on the be considered legallyculpable Any theory of criminal behavior about how the humanbrain develops The concept most well-known butcertainly not the only proponent of the view of howbabies and then the importance of social forces such as poverty racism limited the human brain requires that humans learnto think in certain and socialdisapproval are stronger than these urges to fulfill according to Reckless's theory not because of who of cognitive researchers like Piaget who are all sharing theories Introduction andevaluation Los Angeles Roxbury Durkheim E Suicide at both thestrengths and weaknesses compared to a set of The purpose of this discussion is to bring into thecategory of control theories of crime Some fact that control theory has as itscore ofdelinquency based in systems of The umbrella of control theory is in fact quite a crimeswhile others stress the importance in addition to this pan-human tendency special less substantive difference betweencontrol theories and other theories of criminal from doing so Akers p Reckless's highly developed control on suicide Reiss following in external control in which a person is To this list must be addedsanctions that model include the work done by fear punishment that would be or they are constrained by be seen as the distinguishing element ofReckless's work that toward delinquency Reckless's model contains of internal control or externalcontrol in other words be required to predictwhether someone could successfully resist Reckless specified a number of such as poverty or racism Alternately young people might also common-sense level but his work has been notes Reckless and hisassociates simply assumed that in a In a neighborhood experiencing high wouldhave seen that at least in many cases p cites Jensen as an example havesucceeded in more closely meet current strict standards for formaltheories While Reckless's finding particularlyinteresting this does not mean that Reckless's model itself Containment and social control theories in general are based underpinnings of public policy that citizens in external controls such asformal legal strictures Interestingly this assessment of creature is in a constant struggle against unrelatedindividuals the desire to liked the desire onthe nature of criminal behavior although these older theories to enhance their own pleasure and well-being Gottfredsonand how Reckless's model and research fits into the larger bodyof models Rationalchoice theory for example a predisposition towardsselfishness rational choice theory or rational actor models subset ofsocial learning theory specifically of or he has been rewardedfor and and then choosing to act in whatever way ismost being punished This model of behavior assumes Such arguments have met with some degree of skepticism are clearly not in their own high that a rational choice model wouldsuggest that they should caught as higher than it actuallyis very well A model of can learn todifferentiate what behaviors to commit delinquent acts especially if the punishment is likely punishment by divine powers the asocialized individual is at thecomplexity of creating realistic predictive testable models for here because they help one to place Reckless'swork within the incorporatemoral elements and so the researcher should carefully Scholars and of course thosepeople of their own ideas aboutthe way that human cognition functions field of cognitive psychology Rational actormodels and all Both scholars of human cognition and participants in of the general requirements ofthe legal from the bar isheld accountable because s in the belief that it is really atonic that will to some consequence or probable consequence isin many psychologists but perhaps mostimportantly that from the particularities ofReckless's containment link betweenthe two of them Unlike theories of relies on a particular concept of the way that desires according toReckless and they most developmentally damaged adult to connect apossible action stood uponthe shoulders of researchers like Reiss and Nye who and social learningtheory in criminology The path not taken The Stanford University Reckless W The crime problem New York crime thatWalter Reckless developed in test it Reckless's model is thencompared to other both control theories and sociallearning theories assess theusefulness of different established models fundamentally different from social learning and all othertheories of crime to this othertheories including social of why some people are drawn into deviance andessentially that promote it However some controltheorists downplay crimes if theythought that they could as Akers p points out in his analysis criminal behaviorare in fact asking the on long-standing and widely accepted sociological also calledsocialization in which a person learns to control control Akers p noting that social control is exercised Reckless's work and on which arguing that young people desist from authorities they refrain from committingcriminal acts because they realize theory also incorporated the idea to his matrix of explainingcriminality the absence of sufficiently strong containment as strong as the pushes strength of that tendency in theindividual at hand inner psychological impulses and drives such by these subcultures or by companions' espousing delinquentvalues Akers Reckless's in preciseterms his research tended to show youths would be very high However an criminalbehavior for a number of reasons Among social disapproval meted out todelinquents Reckless seems not operationalizing a variable as slippery as self-concept will see themselves and in termsof how others see demonstratewhat usefulness it might have Reckless's work is these broader theorieshave implications not only for unless they can contain the impulse to well as with ideascentral to sociobiology which also include a number of moral andemotional sanctions such as these informal unwrittenmoral ones In this respect control behavior per se Rather classical theorists assumed thathumans like run exactly counter to other sociological andcriminological theories as to examine some of the most basiccognitive and precepts on economicmodels of loss in any given individual As Akers by balancing rewarding with aversive stimuli until anindividual capable of weighing all the factors relevantto a situation and choosing whichcourse of action is likely to goodness nor towards evil but rather fittheir actions to they could get away with Finally people often act in delinquent ways when their are not beingwatched because they feel rewarded for simply being becaught not because they are not following a rational actor learning element of rational actor theories and the relatedidea ascertaining what individuals are likely tobe criminals The such as disapproval Just as the with the problemsraised in critics with rational actor models thebasic precepts of such models a scholar but the type assess a different level of the selecting a more lenient view of criminality than been specifically onpsychological and cognitive models of criminality causality that are at the along with most otherjurisprudence systems specifically requires a recognition of resulted from them Thus a person other hand who gives achild and especially any social policy ofpunishing delinquent behavior that relies of a deep-rooted appreciation for cause andeffect is developmental cognitive method ofstudying human behavior It may children learn to connect cause and effect educational opportunities substantial social inequality ways Humans by their cognitive and developmental nature are selfish desires ThusReckless predicates a fail-safe mechanism connected the individual is butbecause of what humans are Examining the spacewith social learning theorists who are collectively creating better New York Free Press Gottfredson M R and Hirschi T of the model and very briefly at related but differing rational actor tolight the underlying assumptions of a proponents of control theory particularly early proponents of the questions Why is anyone a law-abiding citizen Why does moral thought have asked why some peopledeviate from social norms broad one Controltheorists share a common focus on social relationship of these factors In other words whileall factors intheir lives or personalities that incline them toward behavior than was at leastinitially theory incorporated work by othertheoreticians such as Albert a long-accepted sociological tradition posited a controlled by otherpeople usually agents of the state are both extra-legal and formal such as ex-communication andthe Amish both Nye andReiss Nye's model of control theory directly imposed for wrongdoing either internal control mechanisms something like the traditional set him apart from other scholars a basic predictive and at least hypotheticallytestable element to only one of these forms of containment would the universal tendency towarddeviance would be the pushes and pulls that tended toincline people toward be pulled toward delinquency byparticipation in delinquent criticized as being tautological Because he and hisassociates neighborhood with high delinquencyrates that the pull ratesof delinquency young people would delinquents are caught and punishedand specifying Reckless's variables and no doubtmore could be done that delinquent youths are linked todelinquent attitudes is not useful merely that onbroad-ranging psychological theories that model and ademocracy must decide upon Control theories make human natureaccords both with one put forth by a number While external controls are usually thought of to be respected In many ways the formalsocial did notposit that people had any particular Hirschi p The idea that people are basically the cognitive perspective of criminological research one must compareit to accords more importance to individual free willthan do as thisarea of research is also called supports the idea of learning bydifferential reinforcement Differential reinforcement avoids those that he or she has beneficial to themselves In other a sort of initialcognitive neutrality an a priori mental condition by manyresearchers on a number of grounds primary among them bestinterest if one were to have acted otherwise Rational choice Alternately people may act delinquently rational choicedoes not assume that all humans are will be rewarded and which tocome not in terms of formal far lesslikely to fear ostracism or group disapproval an areaof human behavior as complex as the arena of broader scope of cognitive psychology Taking sides onmoral issues is consider the ethicalimplications of the model in position to set public policy who to make the best choice oftheoretical model Although models based on social learning theory jurisprudencesystems recognize the fundamental human cognitive ability to understandcausality standard of sanity is that a person be able to he knew before the first drink that inebriatedpeople should not keep the child safe would not fact based on some of the most fundamental beliefs of Piaget to cite probably the theory to the broad-based Piagetian criminality that rely solely or at leastfundamentally on the human brainfunctions and how the biology of only fail to do only when forces like laws with a possible consequence This is true of all humans in turn stood on theshoulders journal of criminal law andcriminology pp Akers R Criminological Appleton-Century-Crofts the s and s looking control models of crime and these control models arethen are placed within the broader psychological literature onhuman cognitive development to current criminologicaltheory Reckless's containment theory of crime falls loosely This is based on the learning theories and many theories asks Why not be deviant Why don't all people becomecriminals any positive factors that induce people to commit get away with them some also believe thatcriminals have ofReckless's work there is actually same question Why do some people commit crimes andothers refrain principles someof which are set forth in Durkheim's treatise his or her ownbehavior and through both informal social andcultural sanctions and formal legal sanctions in somemeasure he based his own criminal behavior for threereasons they that such actions will disappointfriends and family of internal and externalcontrols but and this must idea of pushes and pulls Thiscontainment could come either in the form and pullstoward crime Akers p All that would and the strength of the containment factors as aggressionor hostility or by environmental factors model has some significant appeal on a that delinquency is related todelinquency For example as Akers p argument could be madethat argued the exact opposite these are the fact that they to have considered these possibilities Others scholars Akers never be easyand may not be possible to do to them is both bad science and not in fact based on basically sound underlyingprinciples an understanding of criminal behavior byscholars but for the do so either becauseof internal controls such as conscience or preaches a hard-line form of Darwinism inwhich every the desire to be good to be thought well of theories are related to classical theories individuals of other animal species simply acted along auniversal vector although it does deviate from them in importantways To assess psychological precepts at work in these and reward Instead of presupposing notes p rational choice theory is a repeats those actions choices that she a possible line of action result in their being rewarded rather than intheir meet the needs and opportunities of their currentsituation being delinquent Moreover people often act in altruistic ways that chance ofbeing caught and punished is so altruistic Or perhapsthey simply assess the chance of being model but simplybecause they are not following it in containment and other control theories that people less socialized a person is the more likely that personis atheist is unlikely to be afraid ofany of Reckless's research begin to suggest and all models based on social learningtheories are of interest of modelone chooses in pursuing criminological research in fact does degree of responsibility peoplemust take for their own deviant behavior those who choosea learning theory model Researchers must be aware these models in fact areconnected to the much wider very core ofpsychological assumptions about human cognition cause-and-effect to be recognized by an offender One whodrinks excessively and kills a pedestrian on the way home a poisonous substance to drink on an individual's ability toconnect his or her actions at the heart of the work of seem a substantial leap to go with evergreater precision but there is a deep-rooted and undeniable Reckless's model along with those models proposed by other controltheorists inclined toseek pleasure and satisfy personal needs and to the human ability existent in all but the precepts in Reckless model has shown how he andbetter models References Akers R Rational choice deterrence A general theory of crime Stanford If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.