Research has consistently shown that so-called scared straight types of jail encounter programs do not have positive benefits for youthful offenders. However, few if any inmate-youth encounter programs have utilized the results of fear appeals message research. Results of the present study suggest that an inmate-youth encounter program may lead to attitude change in youthful offenders if components of successful fear appeals are incorporated into the program.
Finckenauer, J. O. (1982). Scared straight! And the panacea phenomenon. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
2.
Finckenauer, J. O., Gavin, P. W., Hovland, A., & Storvoll, E. (1999). Scared straight: The panacea phenomenon revisited. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
3.
Petrosino, A., Turpin-Petrosino, C., & Buehler, J. (2003). Scared straight and other juvenile awareness programs for preventing juvenile delinquency: A systematic review of the randomized experimental evidence. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 589(1), 41-62.
4.
Petrosino, A., Turpin-Petrosino, C., & Finckenauer, J. O. (2000). Well-meaning programs can have harmful effects! Lessons from experiments of such programs as scared straight. Crime & Delinquency, 46, 354-379.
5.
Pratkanis, A., & Aronson, E. (1991). Age of propaganda. New York: Freeman.
6.
Sherman, L. W., Gottfredson, D. C., MacKenzie, D. L., Eck, J., Reuter, P., & Bushway, S. D. (1998). Preventing crime: What works, what doesn’t, what’s promising (NCJ 171676). Rockville, MD: National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.
7.
Szymanski, L., & Fleming, A. (1971). Juvenile delinquency and an adult prisoner—A therapeutic encounter?Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 10, 308-320.
8.
Witte, K. (1992). Putting the fear back into fear appeals: The extended parallel process model. Communication Monographs, 59, 329-349.
9.
Witte, K., & Allen, M. (2000). A meta-analysis of fear appeals: Implications for effective public health campaigns. Health Education & Behavior, 27, 591-615.
