Research Paper on:
Jeffrey Dahmer and Applications of Reckless' Containment Theory of Delinquency and Gottredson and Hirschi's Self Control Theory

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Various criminology theories can be quite divergent in terms of their contentions regarding the reason  an individual commits a crime. Most, however, recognize that criminal behavior is a manefestation of deviance. Just as the definition of deviance varies according to cultural environment, to  social and economic class and even to gender, so too do the explanations as to why such deviance results in some individuals but not in others. Two theories in  particular are of interest in this regard. These are the Containment Theory (developed by sociologist Walter C. Reckless in the 1950s and 1960s) and the Self-Control Theory (a theory  also known as the "general theory of crime" developed by Michael Gottredson and Travis Hirschi in the 1980s). These theories are particularly interesting when applied to a well-known case  of criminal deviancy, that of Jeffrey Dahmer. Gottredson and Hirschis Self-Control Theory contends that criminal behavior is perpetuated to meet the perpetrators own  self-interest. While non-criminals have learned through a process of socialization and training to restrict their desires in the interest of society as a whole, criminals have not. Gottredson  and Hirschi attribute this failure to inadequate or improper child-rearing which result in a low ability for self-control. Under this theory, therefore, criminals are not unique in that they  experience socially forbidden impulses, they are unique in that they fail to exert the self-control necessary to abstain from acting upon those impulses.  Gottredson and Hirschi are obviously not the first to recognize the importance of self control in separating criminals from non-criminals. Indeed, Reckless "Containment Theory of Delinquency" preceded Gottredson and