Scared Straight. The program targets teenagers who are at risk for becoming involved in the criminal justice system. They visit prisons, where selected inmates describe the stark, violent realities of prison life (Figure 1.2). The idea is that when teens hear about how tough it is in prison, they will be scared into the “straight,” law-abiding life. The program makes intuitive sense, and your employer is considering a partnership between the residents of your detention center and the state prison system.
Ruby Whitehorn
The concept of the Scared Straight program is to scare young men away from the life in the prison system and try to keep them from making decisions that will put them in there. However, the program assumes that the kids will be scared. They aren’t taking the individuality into part as well. We assume that kids will be exposed to the lifestyle and be influenced to run away from it. However, there has been studies on controlled groups and the research shows that kids that experience these types of programs increase the likelyhood of them committing crimes. The research practically shows that kids who are exposed to this type of life, violence, crime, they are more likely to fall into that livelihood.
What other controlled or uncontrolled studies can be done to test whether being exposed to the experience is helpful or harmful?