MovieChat Forums > Beyond Scared Straight (2011) Discussion > Seriously?

Seriously?

posted 13 years ago by NumberOneHoffBunny
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I was as they would call it, a "troubled/at risk" teen cause frankly my parents didn't give two craps about me, it was just my dad had a prominent job in the community and could not have his kids look bad so any time I was in legal trouble he hurried up and hushed hushed it away. But had this program been available to him at the time, he would have put me in it.

Now I know it's easy to sit back in my home, in my adult life and claim that at 14 I would not be scared of those inmates, but I wouldn't. You see, I was always tall for my age but incredibly underweight. I had girls much bigger than me, confront me and even hit me when I was in high school, and yeah I instigated the times I was hit. But those times were few and far between, I can promise you that, because I got so out and out crazy that I would get in these punk girl's faces and dare them to punch me. Yell at them, "PUNCH ME! GO AHEAD!" Because I knew that for one, my dad would take care of it, and for two, if they threw the first punch they'd be in trouble and what ever I did for retaliation would be seen as self defense.

I am way different now, 27 years old and very much on the right side of the law, hell I don't even go above the speed limit for fear of getting pulled over. But back then I knew nothing could hurt me and if it did my overly worried dad would take care of it to prevent a blemish on his reputation. So if I had been sent there at 14 to one of those scared straight programs I can promise you that the only thing that would have scared me into behaving would have been the threat of having to spend a week there without my music to listen to. Oh and the whole using the toilet in public thing. In my heart of hearts I would know there was nothing they could do to me, and if in fact I came to bodily harm my dad, being a lawyer, would sue the crap out of them and we'd be rich. It really was a win win in my mind.

These days I am way more humble and fear incarceration like it's a communicable disease. I don't do anything in flagrant disregard for authority, but I do find my own ways to rebel. In any case, what turned me around was NOT good parenting as I hate my parents to this day and very rarely see them, BUT what turned me around was being homeless for about 6 months and addicted to drugs. It was actually a friend who got me sober and helped me pick up my life, not my parents. In the end, though, I maintain that I would have not been scared of the actual inmates, I would have been scared at the prospect of having to sleep in a cell with a public toilet and nothing to do for a week or forever long they threaten to keep you there. So I would have behaved, I just wouldn't have been scared.

When in doubt, God prays to Hoffman.

(And yes I am FEMALE!)

[–] Ripley741 13 years ago

That's a riveting story, and I thank you for sharing it... but what does the "seriously" in your subject imply? You're saying you wouldn't have been scared of the inmates like the kids on the show are - correct? Well, that's nice, but it doesn't mean the program wouldn't work.

While your post might attest to your toughness, you do still admit that you would have been scared.

I would have been scared at the prospect of having to sleep in a cell with a public toilet and nothing to do for a week or forever long they threaten to keep you there.

So, regardless of how 'tough' you were, or how many times you told people to hit you, you would have been scared in the end.

And that is the point of the show, correct? "Beyond Scared Straight"?

Besides, remain mindful of the age gap. These kids aren't afraid to fight people their own age, but I find a lot of the actual 'scaring' in these jails is done by inmates more than twice the age of the kids. You had girls at school, close to your own age, to deal with - not seasoned convicts, some with 10-20+ years under their belt, armed with mental warfare and scare tactics.

Quite the difference!