Scared Straight takes children thought to be at risk of delinquency to prisons to observe life there first-hand and to meet adult inmates. This is meant to deter young people from following a similar path. However, a systematic review by the Campbell and Cochrane Collaborations showed that not only does it fail to deter crime, but actually leads to more offending.
The concept was based on a Academy Award-winning documentary released in 1978 which took young people around Rahway State Prison, New Jersey.
