View source for Walter Reckless

{{Short description|American criminologist (1899–1988)}}
{{infobox person
|name=Walter Reckless
|birth_date={{birth date|1899|1|19}}
|birth_place=[[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1988|9|20|1899|1|19}}
|death_place=[[Dublin, Ohio]], U.S.
|education=[[University of Chicago]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
|occupation=Criminologist
|known_for=[[Social control theory#Walter Reckless|Containment theory]]
}}
'''Walter Reckless''' (January 19, 1899 – September 20, 1988<ref name=Bernard>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Reckless|title=Walter Reckless|author=Thomas J. Bernard|year=2012|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref>) was an American [[criminology|criminologist]] known for his containment theory (see [[social control theory]]), who was born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] and died in [[Dublin, Ohio]].
==Biography==
Reckless earned his PhD in sociology (1925) from the [[University of Chicago]]. While at the [[Chicago school (sociology)|Chicago school]], he joined with sociologists [[Robert E. Park|Robert Park]] and [[Ernest Burgess]] in conducting observation studies of crime in [[Chicago, Illinois]].<ref name=Bernard/> This research led to his dissertation, ''The Natural History of Vice Areas in Chicago'' (1925), which was published as "Vice in Chicago" (1933), a landmark sociological study of [[fraud]], [[prostitution]], and [[organized crime]] in the city's "vice" districts.<ref name=Bernard/>
As a professor of [[sociology]] at [[Vanderbilt University]] (1925–1940), Reckless shifted his focus to the study of [[juvenile delinquency]]. In their 1932 book ''Juvenile Delinquency'', he and Mapheus Smith (professor at the [[University of Kansas]]) focused on juvenile offenders; the book included court dispositions as well as physical and social characteristics of the delinquents (i.e., physical and mental traits, social backgrounds, and school maladjustments).<ref>{{cite journal|title=Book Review: Juvenile Delinquency. Walter C. Reckless, Mapheus Smith|author=William Healy|year=1933|journal=American Journal of Sociology|volume=39|issue=2|pages=259–60|doi=10.1086/216387}}</ref>
As a professor (of social administration and, later, of criminology) at the [[Ohio State University]] (1940–1969)<ref name=Bernard/> he published his "containment theory" on delinquency and crime (Reckless, Dinitz, & Murray, 1956;<ref>{{cite journal|jstor= 2088428|title=Self Concept as an Insulator Against Delinquency|journal=American Sociological Review|volume=21|issue=6|pages=744–46|last1=Reckless |first1=Walter C. |last2=Dinitz |first2=Simon |last3=Murray |first3=Ellen |year=1956 |doi=10.2307/2088428 }}</ref> Reckless, 1961<ref>{{cite journal|url= http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/fedpro25&g_sent=1&collection=journals&id=292|title=A New Theory of Delinquency and Crime|journal=Federal Probation|volume=25|pages=42–46}}</ref>). Building on the early work of Albert J. Reiss (1951), Reckless' theory posits that [[social control]] – which constrains deviance, delinquency, and crime – included 'inner' (i.e., strong conscience or a "good self-concept") and 'outer' forces of containment (i.e., supervision and discipline by parents and the school, strong group cohesion, and a consistent moral front).{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}
In 1963, the [[American Society of Criminology]] awarded him the [[Edwin Sutherland|Edwin H. Sutherland]] Award for outstanding contributions to theory or research in criminology on the etiology of criminal and deviant behavior, the criminal justice system, corrections, law, or justice.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Edwin H. Sutherland Award, American Society of Criminology|accessdate=March 29, 2017|url=http://asc41.com/awards/SutherlandAward.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Edwin H. Sutherland Award - List of Past Award Winners, American Society of Criminology|url=http://asc41.com/awards/awardWinners.html#ehsa}}</ref>  He served as the President of the American Society of Criminology from 1964 through 1966.
==References==
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[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:American criminologists]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:Ohio State University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
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