Teens and Prison ("Scared Straight" making a comeback?)

wbrc.com ^

[chance33_98]

wbrc.com, Alabama

OPELIKA - Teens and Prison

In the 1970s, a film documentary called "Scared Straight" showed kids spending the night in a prison cell to learn what a life of crime could bring them.

There weren't any film crews around, but ten Lee County girls got a chance to spend a day at Tutwiler women's prison to learn that lesson for themselves. The girls -- ranging in age from 13 to 17 -- have been in trouble and could be headed for prison. They heard from corrections officers and young inmates about what the locked-up life is like. The inmates pleaded with the girls to turn their lives around. And it seems to have worked -- most of the girls said afterward that they plan to make some changes and try to live better lives.

[cyborg]

GOOD get then when they're young. Adults are pitiful and intractable most of the time.

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[skinkinthegrass]

GOOD! Get them, when they're young.

I remember watching the 'Presention' on the Boob tube...It would have scarce the *hit-out me @ that age, too.

[cyborg]

I think seeing Scared Straight was first time I ever heard the F-word on tv. I fell over in horror BUT the look on those kids faces when prisoners started talking about getting raped in the a-- was classic. I bet they didn't even steal candy after that.

[breakem]

Scared Straight is one of those ideas which sounds good and should work. However, that's just on an intuitive level. My recollection of the follow-up assessment was that the kids who went through scared straight programs had a higher rate of incarcertion than similar kids who did not. Trying to recall info from the 80s.