"Beyond Scared Straight" - the field trip from hell

This week, A&E's "Beyond Scared Straight" premiered. It's an updating of the old "Scared Straight" documentary from 1978 where young people "at risk" encounter actual prisoners and prisons. While the real life effectiveness of the high-profile original series was questionable, the premise is still riveting television and fits right in with A&E's brand of voyeuristic, tough love, self-help style reality shows. Their stable of reality shows ("Intervention," "Hoarders," etc) are the only ones I really watch because they actually are about reality. Also, the goal is to help someone in the end and you get to see some progress occasionally.A cynical viewer could scoff at the program along with the posturing kids on the screen, but the prisoners can try and get something into these flippant kids' heads - that it can happen to you. That there are people just like them that went down the same path. It's so hard to get through to adolescents that they aren't invincible and to break down that belief of "well, it can't happen to me." Even better, the premiere of "Beyond Scared Straight" focused on young girls rather than young men. Girls have the added dimension of thinking they are too pretty or too young to go to jail. Or that they won't be punished as severely solely because they are female. Although for a long time this was a true trend in incarceration rates, this has evened out between the genders in recent years.

While you might think it's harsh to send young kids into prisons, after spending five minutes with these girls you want them to have to spend a week in the prison just to be taught a lesson. You don't even need people screaming in your face, stick them in any prison for a few days and they'll quickly realize it's not fun. These are kids who act tough and love playing the bad girl, but really they're just acting out and rebelling like a lot of kids do at that age. They think they're hot shit and laugh and smirk while everyone around them freaks out about their behavior. While they're still young, I liked that they held the girls accountable for their actions and didn't villainize the parents while bemoaning the girls as unfortunate victims. Too often we place too much blame on the parents even when their children are in adolescence and at the age where they should be held accountable for their choices. Yes, they are minors and mentally not as rational as adults, but some responsibility should still be theirs. Parents can only do so much, as at a certain point, their child becomes a thinking being that can make their own choices and therefore should experience consequences.

In the end, we see the girls a month later and hear if they changed their ways or not. I'm glad they didn't pretend like every girl was changed by it as one particularly ornery chick continued acting out and entered Juvenile Hall. It's interesting to see the ones who do change, though, since they're at an age that is a critical period in offending. Once they get involved with the criminal justice system in some form, like with Juvie, it's tough to get them back on the right path. It's great to see some of them forming better, healthier coping mechanisms and outlets for their anger. I'll probably tune in for a few more sessions, but I imagine it will get repetitive as a series eventually. But for now, I enjoy seeing another A&E reality show that, while low-minded and appealing to the reality show voyeurs in all of us, tries to make a positive difference and have a message of change being possible no matter your affliction or position.