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"Scared Straight" programs?

radcen

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"Scared Straight" programs?

Have you ever seen these tv shows documenting these programs? Or, have you ever experienced them either first-hand or second-hand? If so, what do you think of them? Do you believe they are beneficial and/or helpful?

I've only watched the tv shows and done some reading both for and against. It seems like a good idea, but my gut tells me to be skeptical, and there seems to be a great deal of theatrics, so I remain unconvinced.
 
"Scared Straight" programs?

Have you ever seen these tv shows documenting these programs? Or, have you ever experienced them either first-hand or second-hand? If so, what do you think of them? Do you believe they are beneficial and/or helpful?

I've only watched the tv shows and done some reading both for and against. It seems like a good idea, but my gut tells me to be skeptical, and there seems to be a great deal of theatrics, so I remain unconvinced.

My husband use to work for a Juvenile detention facility - they were beneficial.

Kids are too stupid and immature to actually realize that, odds are, that's where they'll end up. . . Telling them doesn't do much, as they don't listen to authority. Showing them on a tv show does nothing, either, as teens and kids tend to think they'll always be the exception that gets away with everything. Putting them in an extreme situation is the only way to get through their thick, stupid skulls that they have a future and they're just throwing it away.

It's like my Great Aunt Genevieve who popped out her fake eye as evidence as to why you shouldn't look down the barrel of a BB gun.

If you think I ever looked down a barrel of a BB gun after that, you're insane. I was terrified. Now, as an adult, that has turned into caution - I never put my face in front of anything that can eject or explode.
 
I've seen a few episodes on the show they have on A&E and I have to say if it helps save kids from going down a dangerous road then good on them. I'm not sure they do as much good as the show makes them seem to be, but saving two of six kids going into the program is better than doing nothing.
 
"Scared Straight" programs?

Have you ever seen these tv shows documenting these programs? Or, have you ever experienced them either first-hand or second-hand? If so, what do you think of them? Do you believe they are beneficial and/or helpful?

I've only watched the tv shows and done some reading both for and against. It seems like a good idea, but my gut tells me to be skeptical, and there seems to be a great deal of theatrics, so I remain unconvinced.


Are we talking about the jail stuff or the 'Pray it away' church programs?
 
I've watched them too and I think it depends on the individual. Some realize they've never had any discipline in their lives and appreciate what they're experiencing, while others just don't have the right attitude and all the yelling and intimidation just makes them hate the cops even more. Overall I think it's a valuable program, but might need some tweaking to become more effective with some individuals.
 
I don't have much faith in human nature - from my experience, people, particularly young people, are averse to learning from other people's mistakes - we often will listen to how to succeed at something we want to succeed at - thus positive role models and experiences are usually received favorably - but try to tell a young person the ills of smoking, the ills of over drinking, the ills of drugs, the ills of getting caught in crime, etc. is basically useless - if they really want to try something bad enough, no amount of warning is going to stop them.

But it's really great for those who want to toss out the "I told you so" barbs.
 
My husband use to work for a Juvenile detention facility - they were beneficial.

Kids are too stupid and immature to actually realize that, odds are, that's where they'll end up. . . Telling them doesn't do much, as they don't listen to authority. Showing them on a tv show does nothing, either, as teens and kids tend to think they'll always be the exception that gets away with everything. Putting them in an extreme situation is the only way to get through their thick, stupid skulls that they have a future and they're just throwing it away.

It's like my Great Aunt Genevieve who popped out her fake eye as evidence as to why you shouldn't look down the barrel of a BB gun.

If you think I ever looked down a barrel of a BB gun after that, you're insane. I was terrified. Now, as an adult, that has turned into caution - I never put my face in front of anything that can eject or explode.
I guess part of why I'm skeptical is when an inmate gets in a kid's face and threatens to take them behind a closed door and beat them up... and I know there's no chance of that happening right then and there (maybe later when the kid is an inmate them self, but that's different)... I get skeptical. But, the kid doesn't necessarily know that.
 
I don't have much faith in human nature - from my experience, people, particularly young people, are averse to learning from other people's mistakes - we often will listen to how to succeed at something we want to succeed at - thus positive role models and experiences are usually received favorably - but try to tell a young person the ills of smoking, the ills of over drinking, the ills of drugs, the ills of getting caught in crime, etc. is basically useless - if they really want to try something bad enough, no amount of warning is going to stop them.

But it's really great for those who want to toss out the "I told you so" barbs.

As a general rule I believe that the lessons most retained are the lessons hardest learned.

"Don't touch a hot stove" lasts about 30 minutes. The memory of burned fingers lasts a lifetime.
 
I guess part of why I'm skeptical is when an inmate gets in a kid's face and threatens to take them behind a closed door and beat them up... and I know there's no chance of that happening right then and there (maybe later when the kid is an inmate them self, but that's different)... I get skeptical. But, the kid doesn't necessarily know that.

Of course it won't actually HAPPEN.

You know that, I know that - but imagine being the little punk whose in juvenile detention because he thought it was funny to beat up his neighbor and his dog all over something like a five-dollar bill.

He doesn't know that.

And yes, it works - when logic, care, concern, reasoning, and hope fail = fear is all you have left to exploit.

I'd rather see that and hear that - than give up on the little bugger and have him prove stereotypes as truths and kill someone by the age of 20.

One thing delinquents call have in common = they've built up emotional walls to boost them up somehow. Maybe it helped them when they were 10, maybe it was necessary to make it through their parents fighting, who knows. Regardless - you have to break down that wall before anything will have any sort of impact.
 
Adding: prison life = it is truth.

Prisoners fight and kill each other at an alarming rate. Years ago I read the statistics that half of all death row inmates are there, not directly from their initial crime, but from subsequent crimes while in prison.

Prison is a vile, nasty, brutal place. . .some kids think it's cool, or not that bad, I guess. The least of their worries is getting beat up while they're in there - worse things happen all the time.
 
They seem to be a waste of taxpayer money.
 
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