Customer Reviews

Scared Straight!

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A film by Arnold Shapiro

Peter Falk narrates this documentary about criminally inclined youths visiting a prison and getting to talk to actual inmates who are trying to scare them straight. It is the Rahway State Prison in New Jersey. The year is 1978. It is called the "lifers program". The inmates get no special compensation for participating in the program, but they hope that this program will help keep some kids out of prison. 17 teenagers are sent to the program, it was a sort of a last stop for these kids before prison. These aren't good kids, they have committed theft, arson, armed robbery, assault, and more. The inmates are some of the worst convicts in the prison system, nasty men who have done nasty crimes.

Scared Straight is an uncensored look at this session in the prison. The inmates come in and they each take turns talking of their experiences, but rather than just a dry account of their prison time (and how they got there) this is highly emotional. The inmates yell at the kids, curse at them, and explicitly tell them exactly what will happen to them if they end up in prison and exactly what the prison culture is like. It is violent, always threatening, and every day is a risk of being the prisoner's last. The inmates gave every possible detail, more than you might want to know but everything you would need to know. Going to prison may seem like a game, a short easy ride, but these convicts set you straight. Some of the kids appeared to be near tears and visible intimidated by the convicts. The inmates explained what being intimidated would get them in prison, too.

This was a powerful documentary. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary and it should be required viewing for any kid who starts getting in trouble with the law. Perhaps it should just be required viewing in high school. There is a follow-up with the kids 20 years later. Amazingly enough, 16 out of 17 of the original group have stayed out of prison. It was an incredibly successful program and the men (and women) said that if it wasn't for the lifer's program, they probably would have kept committing crimes. We also get to see some of the convicts 20 years later, the ones who are still alive. Some have been able to finish their sentence and stay clean, others had some problems and remain behind bars.

This is an incredible documentary and I don't think it lost any of its power 20 years after it first aired. This should be required viewing for any teenager and I highly recommend this documentary.

In 1978, a program was started by inmates of Rahway maximum-security prison in New Jersey where a small group of juvenile delinquents were brought into the prison to meet with inmates. The inmates who created the program get no special treatment, no rewards for participating in the program, as the goal is to try and give something back, to try and save a life before it's too late.

Now keep in mind, these teens, ages ranging from 15 to 17, were some of the worst of the worst, their crimes ranging from arson, breaking and entering, theft, grand theft auto, assault, etc. The goal was to show these teens the consequences of a life of crime, the harshness of the prison system, a glimpse into the reality of where they where headed.

The documentary, hosted by Peter Falk, starts out by interviewing the teens prior to their entry into the prison. These kids are extremely cocky, and it would be funny if it weren't so sad. They talk tough, act tough, and seem to have very little regard for their actions. On entering the prison, they are processed, just like any other convicted felon, and lead to cells where they spent and hour before their two-hour meeting with a select group of prisoners. To these kids, this was just an opportunity to get out of school for a day, but it became so much more.

The prisoners berated the youths in an effort to show them that the kids weren't as tough as they thought they were, and also gave them a real good look into what prison life is really like. Some of the kids seemed to the point of tears, and all seemed frightened and very shaken. Some prisoners recounted harsh experiences within the prison, while others let the kids know exactly what would happen to them if and when they ever entered the prison system. The prisoners were literally in their faces, trying to get their respective points across. Afterwards, when the kids left, they were interviewed again, and their demeanor had visibly changed. No longer were they full of themselves, but very humbled and seemingly very frightened at the prospect of ever having to end up in a place like that.

Also included is the follow up documentary, Scared Straight: 20 Years Later, hosted by Danny Glover. The filmmakers attempt to follow up with the kids and prisoners, allowing us to see where they are now. Amazingly, 16 out of the 17 children in the pilot program managed to turn their lives around and, for the most part, stay out of trouble. Many are productive members of society, and have children of their own. Also shown is the impact on the prisoners who participated in the program. It's funny how this program, created and run by convicts to aid troubled youths also ended up helping the convicts, as a number of them seem to have seen the error of their ways and were working on rebuilding their lives.

All these years later, the program is still running, and it's estimated that about 80% of the children who participate manage to turn their lives around, and stay out of prison. Quite a success rate.

The impact of viewing this on video opposed to being there in person, having a convict yell at you inches away from your face, probably isn't as strong, but I think the message is, and many younger and older people would get a lot of of watching this movie.

I didn't see this the first time it was aired on TV in 1978, but I do remember seeing a preview and pictures from it. Even so, it had a lasting impression on me. I always remembered seeing a light-complexioned African-American man with the mostashe who had one eye (Ali). I remember seeing the veins in his neck bulge out and remember him as someone who was very angry and someone you did not want to mess with. Recently, I've watched this documentary for the first time and was impressed.

The most fascinating aspect of this video is the follow up after 20 years, but they also did a follow up with some of them after 10 years as well. Did the Scared Straight program work? According to the people who run the program, it worked very well. Out of all of the kids in the program, only one of them became a convict in a maxium security prison, but quite a few of them have had run ins with the law and served lesser sentences in county jails. In my opinion, I don't know if the Lifers Programs does all that much good because how do you know the kids wouldn't have wound up being not too different from the way they became anyway had they not participated in the lifers program?

Out of all of the convicts in Scared Straight, only two managed to turn their lives around, the rest either died or were still incarcerated at the time of the film. The most memorable man of the film (Ali) who none who were in the program will ever forget was the last subject interviewed in this film. Did he manage to turn his life around or is he still incarcerated? You'll have to watch this to find out.

I highly recommend this documentary. I do not believe however that one can get scared into changing their life around completely. The fundamental core of who a person is will always be there regardless of how much people scare him. Real change must come from within.

Scared Straight should be played on a wide screen and stereo sound in every high school. Period.
The crime rate would plummet!
My congratulations to the producers. A world class effort.
Ross McNab

I teach a high school alternative class. The students I teach either have been or are on their way to jail.(Sad to say, yes, but it's true.) They started off rolling their eyes but when the video began, they sat up straight and watched. This video made them think. The students left my class that day knowing that they are not as tough as they thought in the beginning. WARNING: the language is explicit! But hey, they hear it anyway.

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IF YOU ENJOY YOUR FREEDOM.......ORDER AND WATCH THIS VIDEO

If you LOVE anyone that is headed for trouble show them this.

If YOU are doing stuff that will get YOURSELF into trouble... watch this video.

..........YOU MUST REALIZE.... THIS IS REAL LIFE.

Don't waste THIS chance to keep yourself from major problems.

this program was shown to me by my mom it had a big effect on me.

I reach a class in Juvenile Justice at UTSA (University of Texas at San Antonio) and I use this video as part of our 'corrections' lesson. It is dated (1970s), but I don't know that prisons have changed all that much in the last 40 years. It makes a great segue into our next lesson which is delinquency prevention program evaluation - since the Scared Straight program does not actually reduce recidivism among juvenile participants. It generates a lot of good class discussion. Good film.

This is a documentary I would recommend every young person watch. It has some very explicit language and sexual references so you would want to consider the age of the viewer. I saw this video for he first time about 20 years ago and it left an impression all these years. I bought it to show my grandson (age 12) who sat open mouthed and wide eyed throughout. He was able to hear what life in prison is like, what people go to prison for and also see how good choices can turn a person's life around. I recommend it.

As Ho Chi Minh tells us, prison doesn't seem to reform anyone. The challenge, then, becomes how to prevent people from becoming prisoners in the first place.

In 1978 New Jersey officials took a group of teenage delinquents to Rahway State Prison so that the "lifers" there could tell the teens about prison. The idea was that the no-holds-barred accounts of prison life would scare the teens into living the "straight" life. A documentary film crew followed the teens into the prison and the resulting film won an Academy Award.

Scared Straight makes a strong impression - viewers will remember this film. The inmates literally get in the kids' faces. The inmates scream and spittle hits the kids' faces. The profanity is graphic and unrelenting. Much of the presentation focuses on prison rape. Many of the kids cry and none of them talk back for long.

The best thing about the current version of Scared Straight is the 20-year update that the filmmakers included. The update tells the viewer what happened to all of teens and all of the inmates who appear in the 1978 film. Surprisingly, only one of the teens became a career criminal. Unfortunately, many of the inmates did not turn their lives around after leaving prison, though there were several success stories.

Scared Straight certainly exceeded my expectations. Viewers will find remind themselves to obey all laws after watching this one.