Do Scared Straight programs prevent crime? w/ Joe Kassabian (Lions Led By Donkeys)

A Hill to Die On

Audio note: Due to technical difficulties (Josie), one persons audio is very bad (also Josie)

CW: Explicit language, discussions of state harms, racial violence, brief mention of rape

This episode Josie is joined by Joe Kassabian - historian, author, and host of Lions Led By Donkeys - to discuss whether Scared Straight crime prevention programs prevent crime. Does yelling at children in carceral settings deter offending behaviour? Surely nothing could go wrong when grown men scream in the faces of young children, right? Joe draws upon his own experiences as a poor kid from Detroit while Josie looks at the unambiguous literature spanning decades.

Sources:

Case, S., & Haines, K. (2021). Abolishing youth justice systems: Children first, offenders nowhere. Youth Justice, 21(1), 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225419898754

Maahs, J., & Pratt, T. C. (2017). “I hate these little turds!”: Science, entertainment, and the enduring popularity of scared straight programs. Deviant Behavior, 38(1), 47-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2016.1190619

McCarty, W. P. (2011). Scared straight programs. In W. J. Chambliss (Ed.), Juvenile crime and justice (pp. 226-238). SAGE.

Petrosino, A., Turpin-Petrosino, C., Hollis-Peel, M. E., & Lavenberg, J.G. (2013). 'Scared straight' and other juvenile awareness programs for preventing juvenile delinquency. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 4, 1-37, DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD002796.pub2

Scared Straight documentary (1999 release)

Welsh, B. C., & Rocque, M. (2014). When crime prevention harms: a review of systematic reviews. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 10, 245-266. DOI 10.1007/s11292-014-9199-2

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