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Brooke Austin
Professor Jennifer Santiago
UWRT 1102-027
29 March 2017
Are Juvenile Delinquency Programs Effective, or are they Harmful?

In the past few years or so, the television show Scared Straight has become increasingly

popular; many people watch it. It can be assumed that because of the popularity of the show,

many people have heard of the program scared straight, which is what the show is centered

around. What many people may not know though is how harmful the program (and similar

juvenile programs, like boot camps) actually can be for children. There are multiple studies

showing that they can be psychologically harmful and there is evidence to suggest they can be

physically harmful as well. Along with regular every-day people, psychologists and experts in

the criminal justice field have conducted their own studies and posted their findings, showing

exactly how harmful they are but yet these programs are still being used. The public is still being

told (mainly by the director/producer of the show Beyond Scared Straight) that the programs are

actually effective and really are not harmful, despite the arguments of the people who spoke out

against him. What could be some of the other reasons that cause parents to turn to these

programs to fix their children?

Scared Straight was first introduced to the public in the form of a documentary in the

year 1978, which was directed by Robert Shapiro, who is also the director and producer for the

television show. The documentary was about seventeen juveniles who were taken to New

Jerseys Rahway State Prison where they spent three hours of their day. The documentary was a

hit with all those who watched, but thee documentary did a fantastic job of leading people in the
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wrong direction due to the fact that the show does not accurately portray everything that really

happens in the program. Like most things that are filmed behind a camera, you have no idea

what happens when the camera is not rolling. There is also no way to tell what footage they do

actually have that they decided not to show and deleted. A good example of the fact that this

happens is a documentary that Katie Couric did on gun control. She edited the footage to make

people look stupid and got caught. What she did was she would ask them a question and edit the

footage to make it seem like the person did not have an answer for it, effectively making them

look like they have no knowledge on the topic. More footage later revealed that most of the

people she interviewed actually answered her questions immediately and did not stay silent like

her video suggested they did (Griswold). . Shapiro followed up with the juveniles twenty years

later and the results were that only two of the seventeen juveniles in the documentary had not

changed and they actually went to prison. The second part to the documentary, 20 Years Later

even delved into how the inmates felt about what they did. Most of the inmates said even though

they had to yell at the kids and get into their faces, that they were glad they did it because it

helped them in the long run. Many inmates even said it gave their lives purpose again because

they helped a child in need turn their life around (Fries).

The first boot camp for juveniles was created in the state of Louisiana in the year 1985.

Now, there are ten states that operate juvenile boot camps. The boot camps are a combination of

counseling, discipline, education, and lots of physical conditioning with military-style rules

(Juvenile Boot Camps). The Scared Straight program was created sometime during the 1970s.

The program is used as a way to try and deter juveniles from crime and trying to prevent them

from ending up in prison. In the program, the inmates have conversations with the kids that can

range from normal conversations to getting up in their faces and screaming at them. Some
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programs, it varies from county to county, have even let the inmates get physical with the

juveniles before, but very few programs actually allow this. The kids spend several hours or even

all day in the prison,, touring it and seeing what life in prison is like. There are programs that

actually allow the juveniles to stay the night in a cell and to eat their food just to get a more

realistic sense of what prison is like. Most programs involve one-on-one counseling for the

youth. The inmates are usually really aggressive and scare the children, thus why the program is

called scared straight. The documentary television show Beyond Scared Straight comes from

this program, and is a good way to see all the controversialsy things that go on in the program

and what the kids have to deal with. It obviously does not show everything, but it is a good way

to get a little insight (Slowikowski).

Anthony Petrosino and some other unnamed researchers from Campbell Collaboration

did a study involving Scared Straight. They took nine of the programs and evaluated the

juveniles in it, and then they looked at juveniles who had not been in any program or had any

treatment. They found that the crime rate in the group of juveniles who were in the program went

up to 28 percent when compared to the other group of juveniles who were not in any program.

Mark Lipsey, from the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, came to similar conclusions

in his study. He found that juveniles who have participated in Scared Straight or other programs

have higher recidivism rates (which is when a criminal reoffends) than juveniles who have not

participated in one of the programs. Lastly, in 1997, there was a report that congress looked over

about crime prevention evaluations. There were over five hundred reports and after reading them,

congress ruled that Scared Straight programs were not effective (Slowikowski).

Dr. DeMichelle, who is with the Senior Research Associate American Parole and

Probation Association, says that the punishment or negative stimuli must be given shortly after
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the juvenile has done something and the punishment or negative stimuli must fit what they have

done (similar to the punishment must fit the crime). The program is often done long after the

juvenile has committed the crime and is usually way over the top compared to what the juvenile

did, so it can be really confusing to them because they are treated like an actual criminal and

given that delinquent stereotype which actually causes them to conform to it (Hale). Anthony J.

Schembri, a former Secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, reviewed some

studies and found that exposing the juveniles to the inmates with their harsh tendencies and

aggressiveness actually desensitizes them to prison so it makes the program less effective

because it will not deter them from crime since they no longer care and are not scared about

going to prison. They know exactly what to expect while in prison and how they should act and

behave (Schill).

John Norcross is a psychology professor at the University of Scranton. He confirms that

researches have shown the risks of the programs and says that the programs are innocuous

(which means harmless) at best and traumatizing at worst (Szalavitz). Unfortunately it is usually

more traumatizing than harmless, which studies have revealed. It is hard to determine beforehand

what the outcome will be, and while many people argue that if it can save even one child then

there is no harm done, but others argue that one child potentially being saved is not worth

potentially traumatizing a bunch more (Dehnart).

There are not many physical risks with Scared Straight (unless the inmates get too rough

which they are allowed to do in certain jurisdictions) but the juvenile boot camps are a whole

different story. While the boot camps are not entirely physical, they do have military-like

psychical training in it. Lots of manual labor and vigorous physical activity is present in many

boot camps. There has not really been many studies on the physical risks of the program, but it is
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obvious that so much physical labor is not good for a juveniles body. Some of the juveniles are

as young as thirteen. They could obtain injuries during the physical exercises, which would cause

them to be taken out of the program, effectively making everything a huge waste of time and

money. Not to mention the injuries could range from temporary to permanent. Temporary would

be a minor break, which would not be too serious. The juveniles could develop a more

permanent injury though like chronic back or knee problems from the physical labor that they are

enforced to participate in. That would mean in the future they will probably have many doctor

visits and lots of money would be spent for appointments (Juvenile Boot Camps. Practice:

Juvenile Boot Camps). Going back to the scared straight program, it is true that in most

programs, the inmates are not allowed to physically hurt the juveniles, which is why there are not

many instances where a juvenile was hurt. However, there was a video posted on YouTube by

A&Es (the television network) verified YouTube channel. Verified means that the account is

REAL and is indeed who they say they are. A&E is the television network that airs the show

Beyond Scared Straight. The video is titled: Beyond Scared Straight: Inmates Get Physical

with Teens and in the video you can see the inmates pull the teen over to a toilet that is filled

with nasty and used toilet paper and force their head into the toilet. This is absolutely revolting, a

juvenile should not be subjected to this, especially since the juveniles are not actually criminals,

they are just in the program. While there is no way to know if this scene was scripted or not, it is

still appalling to watch nonetheless. Assuming that it was actually real (which is even worse)

then there was no way to know the result of sticking the teens head in the toilet. The inmates

probably do not know the history of the teen, so there could be numerous different results (all

bad) coming from forcing their head in a dirty toilet (Shapiro).

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As we dive into how the kids felt about the programs, it is important to talk a minute

about the television show Beyond Scared Straight. Many kids have been on that program and if

you have ever watched it, you will see that it gives you their name and what they look like. That

could potentially harm them in the future when they are looking for a job. The people in the area

that they live would know they have been on the show and would have seen the way they acted,

so employers might be less inclined to hire them knowing they could easily go back into a life of

crime. It could harm their chances of finding a job or even building relationships with people in

the community. They could be treated as an outcast, which could push them further into a life of

crime that they may not be able to turn back from.

Five teens from South Carolina were in the program in 2011 and there were follow ups

done to see how they were doing. Four out of the five teens actually managed to turn their life

around, but one didnt (Follow-up: Lieber, SC.). The program is often hit-or-miss like that:

many teens go in, but it is impossible to say how many of them will turn their lives around and

how many will just get worse.

John Wilson is a juvenile crime expert who spent 28 years in the Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Department of Justice. He agrees that the programs

are failing and do way more harm than good. Joe Vignati, the National Juvenile Justice Specialist

on the Executive Board of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, agrees with Wilson and says that the

programs are a waste of money and it is more likely that the teens will keep going back to crime

instead of staying away from it (Schill).

So if the programs are shown not to work, then why do we still have them? A major

reason is because of the parents. The parents feel like they have done everything that they could

possibly do but still feel helpless because their children still will not listen to them. Their
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children are acting out, committing crimes, even hurting people and they feel like they have no

one to turn to or help them. Many of the parents believe that the program is a quick fix due to

the fact that the juveniles do not spend any longer than a day in the prison, so it can lead you to

believe that the kids will come out an entirely different person in a relatively short period of

time. They believe this because they do not really look into the program, they just go by what

they see on the television, which is mainly just success stories. Scared Straight mainly only

shows success stories because the show being permitted to air depends on the success of the

juveniles in the program. If they show juveniles who did not change or even got worse, the show

could be taken off the air due to low viewer rates. The parents do not look into the risks and do

not do their own research, therefore they are unaware of the harm that could be done to their

children. They sign their children up and send them to the program, fully expecting them to come

home a different person (Yu).

A solution that could be proposed is instead of putting the delinquent juveniles in a

program that scares them, we should try to figure out why they are behaving delinquently. Often

times kids have things going on in their lives that adults do not know about that could be causing

them to act out. Other times, it could be the juveniles home life. It would be more worthwhile to

sit down with the kid or teen a few times to see what is wrong and what is happening in their life

that is causing them to act out delinquently. That way, someone can work with them to tackle the

problem and either help them learn how to deal with it or even fix it if that is an option. That

would help the juveniles stress levels to go down and they (hopefully) would turn their life

around for the better now that their main problem is gone. It could also backfire and the juvenile

may just find another problem once the first one is taken care of, but it is still worth it to try to

take care of the problem with a steady, thought-out-approach. There is also the fact to consider
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that everyone is different. What works for one kid may not work for another, so it may actually

be best to focus on each juvenile individually rather than as a whole (like the programs tend to

do).

In conclusion, Scared Straight programs and boot camps do not work. Psychologists have

said why they do not work and presented the facts with evidence to back it up. There have been

multiple studies on the psychological effects the programs have on the juveniles that show why

they are harmful to them. While there may not have been many studies done on physical injuries

that occur in the scared straight program or the boot camps, it is something that is worth looking

into. While the juveniles may engage in delinquent behavior, that does not make them criminals.

To physically harm them or over exert them is cruel. As an adult, you cannot harm a child

outside of prison and that same rule should apply in prison as well, especially considering the

juvenile is not even an inmate. Experts in the criminal justice field whose specializations involve

juveniles have literally seen the results of the program for themselves and admitted that the

programs are not actually working, but they do not have any control over which counties

implement the programs and which do not. The programs are still in use because of parents and

other people who do not look at the facts of the programs and just send their kids off which is a

large part of the television show Beyond Scared Straights fault for not showing everything that

actually happens and for not being straight up. A good way to stop the use of these programs

permanently would be to start educating people about the programs and what really happens in

them and all the ways your child could be hurt. This could be done in many ways, whether in

person or on social media. If people stopped glorifying the television show and stopped viewing

it, then the show would essentially flop and would have to be cancelled. The spotlight would be

taken away and it could help parents to look into other solutions to help their children.
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Works Cited

Dehnart, Andy. Beyond Scared Straight's Real-Life Controversy. The Daily Beast, The Daily

Beast Company, 23 Feb. 2011, www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/02/23/beyond-

scared-straights-real-life-controversy.html. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017

Follow-up: Lieber, SC. A&E, A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2011,

www.aetv.com/shows/beyond-scared-straight/exclusives/follow-up-lieber-sc. Accessed

15 Mar. 2017.

Fries, Laura. Review: Scared Straight! 20 Years Later. Variety, Variet Media, 14 Apr. 1999,

variety.com/1999/film/reviews/scared-straight-20-years-later-1200457295/. Accessed 29

Mar. 2017.

Griswold, Alex. Katie Couric Documentary Accused of Deceptively Editing Gun Activists

Remarks. Mediaite, Mediaite, 25 May 2016, www.mediaite.com/tv/katie-couric-

documentary-deceptively-edits-gun-activists-remarks/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2017.

Hale, Jamie. Scared Straight? Not Really. World of Psychology, Psych Central , 26 Nov. 2010,

psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/11/26/scared-straight-not-really/. Accessed 15 Mar.

2017.

Juvenile Boot Camps. Juvenile Boot Camps, www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/reform/ch2_g.html.

Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.

Juvenile Boot Camps. Practice: Juvenile Boot Camps - CrimeSolutions.gov,

www.crimesolutions.gov/PracticeDetails.aspx?ID=6. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.

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Schill, Ryan. Beyond Scared Straight: Experts Alarmed by New Show and Impact on Kids.

Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, 11 Jan.

2011, jjie.org/2011/01/11/scared-straight-story-2/8693/. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.

Shapiro, Arnold, director. Beyond Scared Straight: Inmates Get Physical with Teens (Season 8,

Episode 4) | A&E. A&E Television Networks, 19 Dec. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=0EtHJYO9GNI. Accessed 20 Apr. 2017.

Slowikowski, Jeff. OJJDP News @ a Glance. OJJDP News @ a Glance , Mar. 2011,

www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/news_at_glance/234084/topstory.html. Accessed 15 Mar.

2017.

Szalavitz, Maia. How Effective Are Tactics Used on TV Shows to Treat Troubled Teens? Time,

Time, 25 Jan. 2013, healthland.time.com/2013/01/25/how-effective-are-tactics-used-on-

tv-shows-to-treat-troubled-teens/. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.

Yu, Elly. At 'Wit's End': Scared Straight Programs Remain Popular Among Parents Despite

Warnings. Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, Juvenile Justice Information

Exchange, May 2014, jjie.org/2014/05/09/at-wits-end-scared-straight-programs-remain-

popular-among-parents-despite-warnings/. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.