YMMV / Beyond Scared Straight

• Anvilicious: "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son." The show is not at all subtle with its Jacob Marley Warnings from the inmates, and the constant intimidation and abuse by the guards. But it is all very raw and direct about what happens when you go to jail, delivered with all the subtlety of an angry prison guard screaming in your face. It can get into Narm territory quickly, but the overall message is sound.
• Catharsis Factor: For viewers who dislike the show and its methods, 14 year old Seth absolutely shows how useless it is. He basically looks at it as a break, since he can be away from his bullies at school, reacts to the inmates' threats and abuse with boredom, and takes every opportunity to show that they have ''no'' power over him and can't legally hurt him.
• Don't Shoot the Message: The intended message is spot on — it's a warning to troubled kids about what things will be like if they keep breaking the law, delivered by real prisoners and prison guards. But the way it's being delivered by both the inmates and/or guards can fall flat in reality from how unintentionally silly it might be or because the over-the-top screaming at the kids can distract from the message.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Foxxxy, the transgender prisoner from Season 8, Episode 4, specifically, for the Quizzical Tilt they do, which became Memetic Mutation; one example can be found here.
  • Seth, who is clearly only getting in trouble for standing up to his bullies and because his mother neglects his special needs, and obviously doesn't deserve to be scared straight. He's also a pretty talented Deadpan Snarker.
• Funny Moments: Believe it or not. Some are of the Black Comedy variety, naturally.
  • A notable example occurs in the Season 3 San Bernadino, CA: Boys episode. An inmate asks a juvenile offender, "Were you high when you got that ugly haircut?"
  • Another hilarious moment happens when it turns out one of the delinquents is wearing a pink Tweety bird shirt under his prison uniform. One prisoner calls it "a bitch-ass shirt".
• Harsher in Hindsight: A boy named Franklin, profiled in a 2012 episode, said his mother's predictions that he would end up either dead or in jail didn't faze him. Three years later, he was shot to death, having never been "scared straight."
• Jerkass Woobie: A good portion if the kids can be considered this, as a lot of them are simply acting out because of their awful situations. Seth, in particular, is only acting the way he is because he is extremely intelligent for his age and possibly has ADHD, making him a target for bullying. It's no surprise that the show's methods have no effect on him, since he is already being bullied.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Sometimes the inmates can be so memorable with how they talk.
• Memetic Mutation: "YOU COULD HAVE AN ANEURYSM ON THE TOILET! You never knooooow..."
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Anytime a kid who physically abuses their mom get what's coming to them.
  • An inmate shoves a 14 year old girl... And is then dragged outside and possibly thrown in solitary by a nearby CO, since he just assaulted a kid.
  • "The Door's not open wide enough..." For context, a prison guard tries to scare 14 year old Seth by opening the door to an occupied prison cell and threatening to push him in. Seth very calmly (and almost boredly) says he can't go in there. When the guard smugly asks why, assuming Seth is just scared, the above is his response.
  • This: the 15 year old leader of a gang, when confronted by several angry inmates, doesn't look the least bit scared; and on top of that, it's revealed at the end of the episode that she did make a Heel–Face Turn. She changed her ways despite not being Scared straight.
    • Another example is Treszura, a pretty but smug 15-year-old who flunked her jail's "scared straight" program because she kept a smirk on her face through the whole thing (including a role-playing exercise in which she had to pretend she was dead while her mother planned her funeral). In the post-program interview, Treszura admitted that she had been affected by the jail tour, even though it seemed she hadn't, and it was revealed that she'd turned her life around and become an active member of her church.
  • Willie is another example of a teen who absolutely No Sells the prisoners' attempts fo scare him, and actually attempts to hit one of them when he is goaded into it. While he just grins at their threats at first, when one prisoner starts getting really personal with his insults, Willie just glares at him with fury, and seems to actually scare the man a bit.
• Narm: Some of the prisoners go way overboard trying to scare the kids and fall straight into this territory: more often than not, it's a white, middle-aged man trying his best to be a "scary, crazy thug" but just seeming like someone's goofy uncle putting on an act; it makes a viewer wonder why the kids aren't cracking up.
  • The most likely possibilities are that since they're in a prison, they're not sure if they're intentionally trying to freak them out, or if the person in question really is crazy because they've been in the clink for so long.
• Rooting for the Empire: A lot of people who watch this show actually hope that the kids do not change; of course, that can be deconstructed since not everyone wants to be saved, and even a random unforeseen event such as a drive-by shooting could undo even the most positive changes.
• Squick: Pretty often; particularly infamous is the "Grab the Comb" scene.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Mother Kydada talks to her daughter Destiny through the visitation area. Kydada, who's been in jail before, tries to convince Destiny that this is where she'll end up if she doesn't change her ways. Eventually, Kydada can't handle it anymore, and just completely breaks down in tears, walking away from the phone with her face buried in her hands. This is what finally gets through to Destiny about how badly she's messed up.
    Kydada: That street life, that gang, that... All that mess. It's not going to do nothing for you! (Kydada breaks down crying) I love y'all so much! Oh my God! I can't take this! (Putting the phone down, she stands up and walks away into the corner, sobbing)
  • 22-year-old Travis, an inmate facing a life sentence for first-degree murder among other things (who even confessed suicidal ideation while speaking to the producers). His plea and his description of the living hell he was experiencing in prison noticeably brought one of the kids on the tour to tears.
    Travis: I've been here four years. I miss my family, I miss life in general. I will never see the light of day again. You wanna know how I've been coping with it? They've been medicating me! I've been sleeping! For the past week I've slept. That's all I've done. At the age of 11 years old, I started running methamphetamines. Not one of you guys have a homie out there, have a friend that will take a bullet for you! Your own family won't even take a bullet for you, and I can guarantee you that! Your family will be the one to let you down the quickest! [cut to shot of one of the boys crying quietly] The only thing that has kept me here still today, is I have my mother's support. That is the only support I have, is my mother's support. Please... change your lives. [leaves]
  • A season 4 episode featured twelve-year-old Alissa, who was following in her older brother Anthony's lawbreaking footsteps. Almost from the first moment of the jail tour, she's scared to death. After a visit to the maximum security unit, she becomes so scared she ends up crying hysterically and almost hyperventilating. It is extremely painful to watch.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: For many people, it's impossible to root for either side in this show. On one hand, you have the kids who are taken onto the show that are disrespectful and disobedient lawbreakers who are abusive to their own parents and siblings, and like to take drugs, but then you have the prison guards and inmates that are sadistic bullies who like to scream at and humiliate the kids on the show and make them cry, and although they claim to be doing it for the kids' own good, they seem to enjoy it too much, making it hard to see them in a sympathetic light either.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: 14 year old Seth obviously doesn't deserve the abuse he receives from the guards and inmates, especially since he says he's already being bullied on a daily basis as school. Most of the abuse he receives is because he doesn't act scared, making the guards in this especially unsympathetic for basically acting like typical bullies, and implying that intimidation and abuse are the only methods they are capable of or willing to try when trying to reach kids, and don't make any effort to understand why they act out in the first place.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Willie's mother, and by extension the guards who are oblivious to the fact that she is the source of most of his issues. She openly admits that one of her issues with him is that "he hits back", confirming that ''she'' is actually the one who instigates fights, and that she yells at him all the time. Then, during her meeting with Willie in prison, she does nothing but put him down and tells him that he will end up just like his father (who is in prison), which judging by Willie's reaction, is something she says a lot.
• Values Dissonance: From a psychological perspective. Just about every study in the last couple decades on the subject confirms that scared straight programs rarely work and are counterproductive, being more likely to cause trauma than personal growth, yet the show still acts like they're the only way to keep teens out of prison.