Reckless, Walter C.: Containment Theory

Walter C. Reckless is one of the most recognized criminologists of the past century, though this [Page 777]nearly was not the case for this three-time president of the American Society of Criminology (1964, 1965, and 1966). According to Randy Martin, Robert Mutchnick, and W. Timothy Austin, it was not until an auto accident resulting in permanent injuries ended Reckless's quest for a musical career that he would pursue social science studies at the University of Chicago. While there, Reckless found himself under the tutelage of renowned sociologists Robert Park and Ernest Burgess and, after receiving his bachelor's degree, was offered a graduate assistantship in sociology to study vice in the surrounding area (Martin et al., 1990, p. 180). This exposure to the shadier side of life helped foster an interest and birthed a career. As observed by the scholars, Reckless's association with Park led to his involvement in participant observation research at local Chicago roadhouses and resulted in his dissertation turned book Vice in Chicago in 1931.

As Martin and his colleagues note, while serving in his first academic position at Vanderbilt University, Reckless wrote extensively, including the first text ever published on Juvenile Delinquency with Mapheus Smith and the second text in Social Psychology with Ernest T. Krueger. In 1940, he would continue his distinguished career at Ohio State University where Reckless would eventually retire from in 1969 (Martin et al., 1990, p. 181).

Among his accomplishments, such as the often-cited building of the Criminology-Corrections program, Reckless wrote several influential texts, including his famous work, The Crime Problem. The volume published in 1950 was to be the first of seven editions.

According to Randy Martin and his colleagues, Reckless's research while at Ohio State University, with Simon Dinitz and others, would set the stage for containment theory, Reckless's explanation for delinquency and crime. Reckless's research would center on the insulating role that self-concept plays against delinquency, and it was this essential concern about insulating qualities of various personal and social features that became the foundation of containment theory. Containment theory was not formally expressed by Reckless until the third edition of his book The Crime Problem and in abbreviated form in the article “The New Theory of Delinquency and Crime,” which appeared in the journal Federal Probation in 1961.