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Scared Straight!
Scared Straight! is a 1978 American documentary directed by Arnold Shapiro. Narrated by actor Peter Falk – known for playing a police detective on the TV drama Columbo – the subject of the documentary is a group of juvenile delinquents and their three-hour session with actual convicts. Filmed at Rahway State Prison, a group of inmates known as the "lifers" berate, scream at, and terrify the young offenders in an attempt to "scare them straight", so that those teenagers will avoid prison life.
The documentary aired on television in the late 1970s, uncensored; it marked the first time that the words "fuck" and "shit" were broadcast on many networks. Some broadcasters (an example being CFQC, a CTV Network affiliate in Canada) added locally produced segments in which experts discussed both the content of the documentary and the rationale behind airing it uncensored.
The documentary received several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It found that most of the participants did not reoffend. However, studies that compared and evaluated the effects of various Scared Straight programs against a control group have concluded that they increase the likelihood of participants later committing crimes.[citation needed]
Teenagers in this documentary and the 1980 sequel, Scared Straight! Another Story, ranged from 15- to 19-year-old repeat offenders of crimes ranging from petty theft, drug addiction, and public intoxication to gambling, counterfeiting, and racketeering. None of the "graduates" of the original documentary have since been convicted of a felony except for Angelo Speziale, who in 2010 was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the rape and murder of his neighbor in 1982 (four years after the film was made).
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 "Lifers" featured in the film were primarily convicted of murder, armed robbery, or both.
One of the actions seen in the film, commonly done at the prison, forces the juveniles to take off their shoes, either by themselves, or by the lifers, pulling them off the juveniles' feet and throwing them into a mixed pile, as a lesson about stealing from somebody.
At film's end, the teenagers say that they have decided that they do not want to end up in jail. The film ends with a "roll call" of the teens, revealing that most were "scared straight", though a few were said to have reoffended.
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Scared Straight!
Scared Straight! is a 1978 American documentary directed by Arnold Shapiro. Narrated by actor Peter Falk – known for playing a police detective on the TV drama Columbo – the subject of the documentary is a group of juvenile delinquents and their three-hour session with actual convicts. Filmed at Rahway State Prison, a group of inmates known as the "lifers" berate, scream at, and terrify the young offenders in an attempt to "scare them straight", so that those teenagers will avoid prison life.
The documentary aired on television in the late 1970s, uncensored; it marked the first time that the words "fuck" and "shit" were broadcast on many networks. Some broadcasters (an example being CFQC, a CTV Network affiliate in Canada) added locally produced segments in which experts discussed both the content of the documentary and the rationale behind airing it uncensored.
The documentary received several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It found that most of the participants did not reoffend. However, studies that compared and evaluated the effects of various Scared Straight programs against a control group have concluded that they increase the likelihood of participants later committing crimes.[citation needed]
Teenagers in this documentary and the 1980 sequel, Scared Straight! Another Story, ranged from 15- to 19-year-old repeat offenders of crimes ranging from petty theft, drug addiction, and public intoxication to gambling, counterfeiting, and racketeering. None of the "graduates" of the original documentary have since been convicted of a felony except for Angelo Speziale, who in 2010 was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the rape and murder of his neighbor in 1982 (four years after the film was made).
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 "Lifers" featured in the film were primarily convicted of murder, armed robbery, or both.
One of the actions seen in the film, commonly done at the prison, forces the juveniles to take off their shoes, either by themselves, or by the lifers, pulling them off the juveniles' feet and throwing them into a mixed pile, as a lesson about stealing from somebody.
At film's end, the teenagers say that they have decided that they do not want to end up in jail. The film ends with a "roll call" of the teens, revealing that most were "scared straight", though a few were said to have reoffended.