Editing Scared Straight! (section)

== Overview ==
Teenagers in this documentary and the 1980 sequel, ''Scared Straight! Another Story'', ranged from 15- to 19-year-old repeat offenders of crimes ranging from [[petty theft]], drug addiction, and [[public intoxication]] to [[gambling]], [[counterfeit]]ing, and [[racketeering]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=July 12, 1982|url=https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-scared-straight-another-story-vol-18-no-2/|title=Picks and Pans Review: Scared Straight! Another Story|magazine=People}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/1105/110501.html|title='Scared Straight!': How the media can exploit a social program|date=November 5, 1980|journal=Christian Science Monitor|access-date=March 3, 2020|archive-date=March 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303153854/https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/1105/110501.html|url-status=live}}</ref> None of the "graduates" of the original documentary have since been convicted of a felony except for Angelo Speziale, who in 2010 was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the rape and murder of his neighbor in 1982 (four years after the film was made).<ref name=Speziale>{{cite web |url = http://www.northjersey.com/news/040110_Neighbor_sentenced_in_decades-old_Ridgefield_Park_murder.html |title = The Record (Hackensack, NJ): "Neighbor sentenced in decades-old Ridgefield Park murder", April 1, 2010. |website = northjersey.com |access-date = November 4, 2017 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130912000940/http://www.northjersey.com/news/040110_Neighbor_sentenced_in_decades-old_Ridgefield_Park_murder.html |archive-date = September 12, 2013 |df = mdy-all }}</ref>

Most were from the [[Tri-state area#Tri-state areas by region|tri-state]] ([[Connecticut]], [[New Jersey]] and [[New York (state)|New York]]) area and agreed to accept the experiment in lieu of jail time and/or [[probation]]/public service. The producers asked for a range of youth that came from poor inner-city neighborhoods to the affluent suburbs of New York City.

The "Lifers" featured in the film were primarily convicted of murder, armed robbery, or both.

One of the actions seen in the film, commonly done at the prison, forces the juveniles to take off their shoes, either by themselves, or by the lifers, pulling them off the juveniles' feet and throwing them into a mixed pile, as a lesson about stealing from somebody.

At film's end, the teenagers say that they have decided that they do not want to end up in jail. The film ends with a "roll call" of the teens, revealing that most were "scared straight", though a few were said to have reoffended.