On this episode of The Counselor and the Con, we take a look at a controversial tool utilized in the American justice system with at-risk youth. The “Scared Straight” programs that gained popularity with courts and citizens alike seemed to be successful at first, but later the efficacy and even safety of the programs were called into question. Iggy himself went head to head with adult prisoners and lived to tell the tale – find out whether Iggy was scared, straight, or something else entirely!

Sources:

Scared Straight! 1978 documentary directed by Arnold Shapiro
Beyond Scared Straight: Where are they now? Released to YouTube dated April 4-11, 2020. A&ENetwork.

Finckenauer, James O. (June 1980). ""Scared Straight" and the Panacea phenomenon: discussion". Annals of
the New York Academy of Sciences. 347 (1): 213–217. Bibcode:1980NYASA.347..213F. doi:10.1111/j.1749-
6632.1980.tb21271.x. PMID 6930902.

Petrosino, Anthony; Turpin-Petrosino, Carolyn; Hollis-Peel, Meghan E.; Lavenberg, Julia G. (April 30,
2013). "'Scared Straight' and other juvenile awareness programs for preventing juvenile delinquency". TheCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (4):
CD002796. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD002796.pub2. ISSN 1469-493X. PMID 23862186.
^"College of Policing: What Works Crime Reduction Toolkit - "Scared Straight" Programs". February 19, 2015.
Retrieved July 5, 2018.

Laurie O. Robinson and Jeff Slowikowski. "Scary -- and ineffective" Archived April 16, 2011, at the Wayback
Machine. Baltimore Sun. January 31, 2011
Aos, Steve; Lieb, Roxanne; Mayfield, Jim; Miller, Marna; Pennucci, Annie (September 7, 2014). 

Benefits and
Costs of Prevention and Early Intervention Programs for Youth (PDF)(Report). Olympia, WA: Washington State
Institute for Public Policy. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.