An Empirical Evaluation of Juvenile Awareness Programs in the United States: Can Juveniles be “Scared Straight”?

Abstract

Juvenile awareness programs like Scared Straight became popular crime prevention strategies during the 1970s. Juvenile offenders and at-risk youth who participate in these programs are taken to prisons where inmates use confrontational methods to recount stories about violence, sex, and abuse perpetrated by fellow inmates while living a life behind bars. These ''get tough'' policies have wide public and political appeal. Empirically speaking it is unclear whether juvenile awareness programs help to reduce recidivism or prevent criminal behavior. The purpose of this article is to use an evidence-based approach to determine if there is sufficient empirical evidence to suggest that these programs are effective crime prevention tools. This investigation includes a comprehensive review of the studies that have examined juvenile awareness programs. The studies are evaluated using the most widely accepted tool for assessing scholarly works in criminology, the Maryland Scientific Methods Scale. The results of this study indicate that juvenile awareness programs that use confrontational techniques do not work. However, their nonconfrontational counterparts may show some promise.

Best practices: How to evaluate psychological science for use by organizations

“…But organizations should not use mere familiarity as a criterion. Adopting organizational innovations on the basis of intuition and common sense can be costly in dollar terms, especially if and when subsequent evidence suggests that such innovations are ineffective and a waste of money (see Klenowski, Bell, & Dodson, 2010). Common sense is neither as commonly held nor as sensible as people think.…”

Gang Transitions and Transformations in an International Context

“…The way that role models have been used in different programs varies greatly from Scared Straight programs (Finckenauer et al 1999 ) to local outreach workers , personal mentors (Langhout et al 2004 ), and Big Brothers or Big Sisters (Grossman and Tierney 1998 ). Reports on the efforts to use ex-criminals or ex-gang members to help youth at risk desist from participating in crime or gang membership are inconclusive about their infl uence (Petrosino et al 2000 ;Klenowski et al 2010 ;Lilienfeld et al 2010 ). Some argue that research tends to show more negative outcomes than positive, in particular because these programs can have harmful effects such as deviancy training (Dishion et al 1996 ).…”

Juvenile Justice Education For At-risk High School Youth: A Pilot Program

“…Most juvenile justice and sentencing educational programs existent today focus on youth already convicted by a juvenile court and serving sentences, as well as predelinquent youth who have been involved in the juvenile justice system or are at risk but not officially adjudicated (Klenowski, Bell, & Dodson, 2010;Petrosino, Turpin-Petrosino, & Buehler, 2003). These programs, known and modeled after the "Scared Straight" programs established in the 1970s, take place within adult prisons and are conducted by adult inmates.…”

“…These programs, known and modeled after the "Scared Straight" programs established in the 1970s, take place within adult prisons and are conducted by adult inmates. The programs' purpose is to deter youths' future criminal behaviors based on their fear of adult incarceration (Klenowski et al, 2010).…”

“…The demonstrations are graphic and include demonstrations of strip searches, prison violence, imprisonment in small cells, and mandatory physical labor (Klenowski et al, 2010). Youth are also exposed to confrontational "rap" sessions with inmates.…”