Welfare Watch - May 5, 2011- Scared Straight Programs / Evolving View of Childhood Scared Straight Program - Citing recent research, the Baltimore Sun reports that the popular Scared Straight program not only is ineffective but possibly harmful to youth who participate. It concluded that traumatizing at-risk kids is not the way to lead them away from crime and drugs but to place them in supportive mentoring relationships. More An Evolving View of Childhood is the first in a series of articles forthcoming from The Children’s Bureau in recognition of the Bureau's 100th anniversary next year. In the early 1900s, an evolving view of childhood resulted the recognition of the importance of children and childhood. The United States responded to this recognition by creating The Children's Bureau in 1912 to work to protect children. full article - http://cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?event=website.viewArticles&issueid=126&articleid=3158 ___________________________________ An email newsletter of the  Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children as a public service.                         Normer Adams, Editor ___________________________________ GAHSC membership training events - Cultural Competencies

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Scary -- and ineffective

Traumatizing at-risk kids is not the way to lead them away from crime and drugs

January 31, 2011|By Laurie O. Robinson and Jeff Slowikowski

"Scared straight" programs have long been wildly popular in this country as a get-tough response to juvenile crime. They typically involve bringing at-risk youths into an adult prison, where they are confronted — in shocking and brutal fashion — by adult inmates. These programs may include tours of the facility and personal stories from prisoners and may even integrate the youths into the prison population for up to a day. Experiencing the harsh reality of life behind bars is thought to deter kids from a life of crime by frightening them into changing their behavior.

The A&E Network is currently airing "Beyond Scared Straight," a series highlighting four of these programs across the country. A recent episode followed five youths who were brought to the Maryland Correctional Institution at Jessup, which houses more than 1,000 inmates. These youths came face to face with what the A&E website described as "menacing inmates, including convicted murderers, [who] surround the kids and taunt them

Unfortunately, the research tells us otherwise: "scared straight" is not only ineffective but is potentially harmful. And it may run counter to the law.

Anthony Petrosino and a team of researchers from the Campbell Collaboration, an international research network, analyzed the findings from evaluations of nine scared straight-type programs. In contrast to the claims of proponents, Mr. Petrosino and his colleagues found that these programs did not deter teenage participants from offending; in fact, they were more likely to offend in the future. Across the evaluated programs, participants were up to 28 percent more likely to offend than youths who didn't participate. To add insult to injury, a number of youths reported to evaluators that adult inmates sexually propositioned them and tried to steal their belongings. Not only was scared straight found not to deter criminal behavior, the study strongly suggested the program caused harm.

The fact that these types of programs are still being touted as effective, despite stark evidence to the contrary, is troubling. In the decades following the original scared straight program, states across the country developed similar models in the hopes that this get-tough approach would make an impact on their impressionable youth. As it turns out, the impact was not the one they had hoped for.