Beyond Scared Straight

[Larvell Blanks]

Anyone plan on catching this tonite at 10 on A&E?

I remember seeing the original when I was 10. I wasnt a trouble maker or in trouble w/ the law but my mom made me and my sister to watch it to make us think twice before doing anything stupid.

[skatingtripods]

Forgot it was on, but it looks awesome. I'll catch a re-run.

[skatingtripods]

I think they should have actually made them stay in jail for 72 hours. Of course, that's probably illegal, or cruel and unusual punishment or something.

[Larvell Blanks]

^ or at least kept them in overnite. That would have left a HUGE impact on them.

Some very, scary looking women in there fer sure.

Saw the previews of upcoming episodes, always fun to see kids who think they're untouchable and invinsible, broken down like a two yr old who just got his Elmo doll taken away.

[skatingtripods]

^ or at least kept them in overnite. That would have left a HUGE impact on them.

Some very, scary looking women in there fer sure.

Saw the previews of upcoming episodes, always fun to see kids who think they're untouchable and invinsible, broken down like a two yr old who just got his Elmo doll taken away.

Overnight in max security where they were alone. That way, they aren't at any physical risk. But alone with their thoughts and the walls of that 4x6. Consider it a sleepover.

[jb]

Buddy a mine from catholic grade school who went omto Lake Catholic in the day had to go to one of these while doing time in juvvy for boosting some stuff out a crib. said it was fun. Now he's a teacher.

[216]

Watched it, LOVED IT! Huge supporter of scared straight programs. Hell I went through a scared straight program myself it was 9 weeks long... it was called BOOT CAMP!

Straight up "RC" looked just like the living Quarters in Boot Camp beds and lockers almost identical!

Minus the violence, Replace the yelling inmates with yelling DI's. But alot similairties Humilation, Mental Breakdown, Being assigned a number, Single file line EVERYWHERE! Honestly I would say the yelling in boot camp was far more intense!

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Is it a new series or just a special?

[motherscratcher]

I didn't see it, but I don't agree with it.

If you're gay, you're gay. No amount of yelling and humilitation is going to scare someone into being straight.

[216]

I think its a series, I sure hope to see officer Misti again she is very easy on the eyes!

[JoJo White]

You do know that these "scared straight" programs are not effective at all in curbing delinquency, right?

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/y ... /sec6.html

Shock Programs

One tertiary youth violence prevention intervention meets the scientific criteria established above for Does Not Work: Scared Straight. Scared Straight is an example of a shock probation or parole program in which brief encounters with inmates describing the brutality of prison life or short-term incarceration in prisons or jails is expected to shock, or deter, youths from committing crimes. Numerous studies of Scared Straight have demonstrated that the program does not deter future criminal activities. In some studies, rearrest rates were similar between controls and youths who participated in Scared Straight. In others, youths exposed to Scared Straight actually had higher rates of rearrest than youths not involved in this intervention. Studies of other shock probation programs have shown similar effects. (For more information on Scared Straight and similar shock probation interventions, see Boudouris & Turnbull, 1985; Buckner & Chesney-Lind, 1983; Finckenauer, 1982; Lewis, 1983; Sherman et al., 1997; Vito, 1984; Vito & Allen, 1981.)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... n13634710/

The program caught the attention of television executives and "SCARED STRAIGHT! Special: Inside a maximum-security prison" was aired. The TV show followed 17 juvenile offenders as they experienced prison life for two hours. During the show it was reported that about 8,000 juveniles had visited the prison and that 80% of them were reformed by the experience. The outpour of public support for the program spread nationally - money was pumped in and research was conducted to evaluate its effectiveness (NCIA, n.d.).

Disappointingly, researchers found no difference between those participating in the Scared Straight program and those not participating. Attitudes toward law, justice, policemen, punishment and self-perception remained stable. Even more disillusioning was the recidivism rate of those involved in the program. Recidivism rates were found to be higher for those in the program than those not in the program. Some researchers went so far as to believe it increased delinquency (Petrosino, Turpin-Petrosino, & Buehler, 2001).

But hey, it might make for good TV.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

That's the hang up. Once the fear experience is over there really isn't much else. A 14 year old gangbanger is going right back to his same neighborhood and enviorment.

Scared Straight really doesn't do much if you have bad parents either.

[JoJo White]

I suppose that if people tune into this program for entertainment only, no harm done. Heck, I might tune in if nothing else is on.

I would just hate for stressed-out parents of a delinquent youth tune in, think this works, and then decide to shell out major money for one of these scared straight programs that the research clearly says is not effective.

[motherscratcher]

I always thought that about Maury or Montel, whichever one was the one who kept sending little asshole kids off to boot camp. How long would it take for those little shits to figure out that the big scary drill instructor couldn't do a damn thing to them except yell and shout? Those kids are clearly beyond yelling and shouting.

Personally, I think for most of these kids, the only thing that can possibly help them is Dr. Phil.