Research Paper
Scared Straight Programs
Lydia Campos
SOCI- 4342-70
West Texas A&M University
Abstract
Scared Straight programs are created by adults for teenagers who are more than likely to too follow on the path to delinquency or who already are delinquents. It involves a tour of a state correctional facility in hopes for kids to change their lives around.
Keywords- delinquents, prison, juvenile
Research Paper
Scared Straight Programs
Today not only do we have adults committing crimes, but millions of adolescents are committing the same crimes as adults. “Statistics show more than 1.1 million youths being arrested on a daily basis, and more than 800,000 youths belonging to different gangs (Siegel &Welsh, 2014).” It is the state juvenile authorities to deal with these children and the cost is massive. So states came up with programs to put a stop to kids becoming delinquents. With doing so they hope to save money and help kids.
There are many different types of programs that are created to prevent kids away from a life of juvenile delinquency. Although in 1979 the scared straight programs started to rise when Arnold Shapiro’s’ documentary aired on television. They continue to rise today, because of the television series that is aired on A&E and is called “Beyond Scared Straight”. Both are inmates trying to scare kids into changing their life styles so they do not end up in jail.
This is the states goal in prevention; in doing so they usually organize visits to adult facilities for youth delinquents or youth who are bad and have the chance of falling into the delinquent lifestyle. “They will first go through a prison tour, where inmates are asked to give a presentation of them at their worst ...
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...We know it needs to come to a stop, but sadly how do we find the perfect program that helps all children out. I say if this scared straight program is beneficial to some kids then so be it. Not all kids will be helped by boot camps, or community service or even this program. The thing is that we are trying to help as many kids as we can!
References
Crimesolutions.gov,. (2015). Juvenile Awareness Programs (Scared Straight).
Dailymotion,. (2015). Beyond Scared Straight S06E04 - Video Dailymotion.
Exchange, J. (2014). The Many Things that are Wrong with A&E’s “Beyond Scared Straight” Program -. The Good Men Project.
Strategiesforyouth.org,. (2015). How to Avoid the Failures of Scared Straight « Strategies for Youth.
Yu, E. (2014). At ‘Wit’s End’: Scared Straight Programs Remain Popular Among Parents Despite Warnings. Juvenile Justice Information Exchange.
...(2004). Applying the principles of effective intervention to juvenile correctional programs. Corrections Today, 66(7), 26-29. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4bd9d7f2-8ac5-42c6-a100-a2443eda9cbf@sessionmgr4002&vid=1&hid=4213
The program garnered success by reporting that out of the total 8,000 juvenile delinquents that were exposed to the program, an overwhelming 80% of them remained law-abiding citizens (Shapiro, 1978). The program was even revisited 20 years later in a television special which followed up 17 of the juvenile delinquents that went through the original program. The special concluded that only one of the juvenile delinquents became a career criminal (Muhammed, 1999). Following the success of the Scared Straight program, similar programs were replicated in more than 30 jurisdictions throughout the United States in addition to several foreign countries, including Australia’s Day in Prison Program (O’Malley et al., 1993) , Norway’s Ullersmo Project (Lloyd, 1995), and Germany’s Neo-Nazi Prevention Program (Hall, 1999). Along with their claimed success, these programs gained popularity since they are inexpensive (some programs estimated a cost less than 1 U.S Dollar per participant) and they also provide prisoners with an opportunity to make positive contributions to society (Finckenauer,
Worling, J .(2012). The assessment and treatment of deviant sexual arousal with adolescents who have offended sexually. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 18(1), 36-63. doi: 10.1080/13552600.2011.630152
There are many stories shared in this book about the boys and their crimes. Most of the boys have physical abuse, drug addictions, gang affiliations or a combination of these in their background. Several of them have been bounced around to their grandparents, aunts and uncles or even foster care.
The youth control complex is a form of social control in which the justice system (the prison system) and the socializing and social control institutions (school system) work together to stigmatize, criminalize, and punish inner city youth. Accordingly, these adolescents’ are regarded as deviant and incompetent to participate within U.S. society. On that note, deviance is created based on socially constructed labels of deviances; otherwise, deviance wouldn’t happen without these labels. Once an individual engages in a deviant behavior, it results in a response, often times, some type of punishment from the justice system. The youth control complex creates social incapacitation (social death) among juveniles. This ubiquitous system of social
In comparing results of today’s Scared Straight programs with those of the pilot program, there seems to be a large gap in the rate of recidivism, perhaps due to changes in culture or because of the pressure from being televised in the pilot program. Also, a great flaw in Multisystemic Therapy is the high price, which often out of reach for lower income families, and requires a great deal of time and commitment, making it less appealing than the quick-fix offered by Scared Straight. Research would suggest that Scared Straight style program is flawed in that it does not take into account the way a child sees an incarcerated adult, and in that it increases recidivism rather than decreases it. However, parents of children who have participated in M.A.C.E. have praised the program, and claimed that it changed the attitude and behavior of their child. Parents of children who have participated in Multisystemic Therapy have made similar claims, stating that there has been an improved overall attitude in their child. The effectiveness of MST versus Scared Straight is difficult to gauge, as parents have similar positive things to say about their preferred program, and both have their drawbacks, Scared Straight’s being the rate of recidivism, and MST’s being the high initial price. However, effectiveness aside,
Howell, J. & Lipsey, M. (2012). Delinquency prevention: A broader view of evidence-based programs reveals more options for state juvenile justice systems. Criminology & Public Policy 11(3), 515-523
Juvenile delinquency is a relatively new phenomenon. For this reason, society’s reactions and solutions to the problem of delinquency are also modern developments. The United States developed the first youth court in 1899 and is now home to many new and formerly untested methods of juvenile rehabilitation and correction. One of many unique programs within the Juvenile Justice system, boot camps are institutions designed to keep delinquent juveniles out of traditional incarceration facilities and still provide a structured method of punishment and rehabilitation. Boot camps developed in the early 1990s and quickly proliferated throughout the nation. Specifically, they are “…short-term residential programs modeled after military basic training facilities” (Meade & Steiner, 2010). Designed with the goal of reducing recidivism and preventing violent offenses, boot camps target non-violent individuals under the age of 18 and typically exclude already violent offenders. In theory, boot camps apprehend juveniles while they are committing minor delinquency and prevent more-serious crime by “giving the juvenile offender a more optimistic, community oriented outlook” (Ravenell, 2002). Fundamentally, boot camps have four central purposes; rehabilitation, punishment, deterrence, and cost control (Muscar, 2008).
In the most recent years, the relationship between educational institutions and the juvenile justice system, which was once created to protect children, has displayed an ultimatum for minors through “zero tolerance” policies that result in sending individuals from school to prison to pipeline. Studies have shown that these policies are not beneficial to students or the educational environment that should be guaranteed to children. Opponents argue that the policies promote safety, but through this research it can be concluded that the policies actually increase danger. Studies demonstrate the factors that affect the enforcement of these policies which include media, the sociopolitical atmosphere, and the racial disproportionality, yet there are valid solutions for this issue that can be explored.
... the street, and off the drugs. This institution is known as YOTS. The institution aims to take kids who are below society's regular standard and bring up with everyone else to give them a chance in life. The staff at YOTS and other institutions similar take a "firm but gentle approach to helping the kids" this approach is very similar to that of Sam's in Raw. The article uses dialogue from the kids that have been in the institution to show us their attitudes toward the program "You do leave here with a feeling of great accomplishment" and one of the comments strikes a comparison between the police in the novel raw and the police in the article "The police see you and think he is nothing but a street kid" they don't see them as individuals, similar to the way the police treat Brett at the beginning of the Novel "Raw."
This program will be used mostly in schools; they will be put in a room that is dark and scary. A video will play showing the child the effects of their behavior and how it can turn into a serious problem. They would have to stay in this room until the video is over and once the video is over they will be sent back to play with the other kids. If they continue to display these signs they will get publicly humiliated by the authority in charge. The child will learn very quickly that those actions won’t be accepted. If the child continues to display this behavior after all of that this will result in physical punishment by the
The goal of deterrence has its limits because rules and former sanctions, as well anti-criminal modeling and reinforcement are met with young rebellious minds. Traditional counseling and diversion, which are integral aspects of community corrections, can sometimes be ineffective, and studies have shown that sometimes a natural self intervention can take place as the youth grows older; resulting in the youth outgrowing delinquency. 2. What is the difference between a.. What are foster homes like?
Introduction: Recidivism or, habitual relapses into crime, has time and time again proven to be an issue among delinquents, which thereby increases the overall juvenile prison population. This issue has become more prevalent than what we realize. Unless a unit for measuring a juvenile’s risk of recidivism is enacted and used to determine a system to promote effective prevention, than the juvenile prison population will continue to increase. Our court system should not only focus on punishing the said juvenile but also enforce a program or policy that will allow for prevention of recidivism. So the question remains, how can recidivism in the juvenile prison population be prevented so that it is no longer the central cause for increased juvenile delinquency? Simply put, we must create a means of measuring juvenile’s level of risk and in turn, form an effective rehabilitation program that will decrease their risk level for future recidivism.
United States offenders are not hopeless. Each offender needs individualized therapy that will cater to the root cause of delinquency and each offender has different educational needs. Many offenders need therapy to change the way they think and how they view the world around them. These changes are not going to happen alone and cannot possibly happen with a cookie cutter program. In order to reduce the rate of recidivism and successfully reintegrate offenders into the community, all services must lead to the bettering of an individual and aiding them in successfully staying in the community, not simply reentering into the community.
Loeber R., and D.P. Farrington. “Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions.” Thousand Oaks. 1998. First Search. Feb 2007