Scared Straight!

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Scared Straight! was a documentary directed by Arnold Shapiro and released in 1978.

The subject of the documentary was a group of cocky teenaged juvenile delinquents and the attempts to make them end their criminal ways by introducing them to actual convicts. Filmed at Rahway State Prison, a group of inmates known as the "Lifers" berate, scream at, and terrify the young hoodlums, and attempt to "scare them straight" (hence the film's title) by showing an ugly, harsh presentation of the realities of prison life. At film's end, the teenagers decide that they don't want to end up in jail. The movie's narration was provided by Peter Falk.

The film was followed by Scared Straight! Another Story (1980), Scared Straight! 10 Years Later (1987), and (on MTV) Scared Straight! 20 Years Later (1999). The last sequel, hosted by Danny Glover, showed that the majority of the teens in the original program were, in fact, "scared straight" and went on to lead happy, productive lives.

The documentary was shown on television in the late '70s. It was aired uncensored, and marked the first time that the word "fuck" was broadcast on many networks.

The film won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1978. It also won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement–Informational Program and Outstanding Informational Program.

As a result of the film, many states introduced "scared straight" programs in an attempt to rehabilitate young delinquents. The effectiveness of such programs has been questioned, most significantly by a meta-analysis of 7 such programs by Anthony Petrosino et al. (2002, updated 2003), which found that 'scared straight' programs not only failed to deter crime, but actually led to more offending behaviour.[1]

Teenagers in the 1978 and 1980 documentaries ranged from 13 to 19 year old repeat offenders of crimes ranging from petty theft and public intoxication to gambling, counterfeiting and racketeering. It should be noted that none of the individuals in the original documentary were ever convicted of a felony. Most were from the tri-state (Connecticut, New Jersey and New York) area and agreed to accept the experiment in lieu of jail time and or probation/public service. The producers asked for a range of youth that came from poor inner city neighborhoods to the affluent suburbs of New York City. The recidivism rate of the original two casts was less than 10%.

The original cast included a drug dealer and counterfeit document manufacturer from Westchester County (Mikie C), a gang member from Jersey City (Jerome Watts), an arsonist and bomb builder from Bridgeport (Jon Shipiro), the son of a Mafia informant (Carlo Gallo) and a 17-year-old chop shop parts dealer and car thief from the Bronx (Jesus Rodriguiez).