Beyond Scared Straight & Reclaiming Futures
Mr., Chambers I felt compelled to read the Scared Straight and Other Juvenile Awareness Programs for Preventing Juvenile Delinquency report before commenting. I want to acknowledge that I have been impressed with a lot of the material that has resulted from the Reclaiming Futures Initiative. This being said I believe it is erroneous to be stating that programs following the “Scared Straight,” methodology have been found to increase criminal behavior among those who participate. After carefully reading the meta-analysis report I found one sentence that provides a strong argument to discredit the findings. It is where the authors note that Scared Straight and other juvenile-awareness programs are not effective as a stand-alone crime prevention strategy.

I am actually surprised that reclaiming Futures or those associated with the initiative would be so quick to discredit the “Scared Straight” treatment methodology. Even the authors of the meta-analysis you directed readers to acknowledge that these were stand alone interventions that apparently increased criminal activity versus no treatment individuals. Gifford-Smith, Dodge, Dishion & McCord (2005), reviewed literature and concluded that juvenile delinquents placed into group treatment programs are exposed to deviant peer’s influences and delinquent behavior. These findings sugest that youths will have an increased risk of recidivism. With this in mind, yes I would expect increased criminal activity from the participants only experiencing a “Scared Straight” program. The work from Reclaiming Futures initiatives, as I understand it, incorporates addressing the complex needs or issues associated with an offending youth. This is done by providing services addressing respective areas i.e. substance abuse, mental health, positive youth development and family counseling. My point is what happens, or have there been studies, that show the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of reducing juvenile recidivism rates when a “Scared Straight” program is incorporated into a multi-dimensional treatment plan.
Work Cited
Mary Gifford-Smith, K. A. (2005). Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents: Crossing the Bridge from Development to Intervention Science. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology , 255-265.