By vincent todaro
Staff Writer
EAST BRUNSWICK — By showing what happened to youngsters who grew up without heeding the advice of the Scared Straight program they viewed in 1978, local authorities are hoping to influence a new generation.
The Police Department showed a 90-minute videotape of the original program at the East Brunswick Public Library Tuesday, and to bolster its objective, the tape included footage of people who viewed the tape as youngsters, their attitudes toward it then, and how they wound up. According to Christine Fawzy, juvenile counselor for the township, the tape proves that people who were actually scared by the program went on to lead lives free of criminal activity.
"The people who didn’t take it seriously are videotaped 20 years later in jail," she said.
The program usually involves taking children to actual prisons and having them lectured, screamed at, and basically terrified by prisoners. The goal is for the children to become aware of what they could look forward to if they went to prison.
"There are small, hot, dirty cells," she said. "Jail’s not what it looks like on TV."
Fawzy said the program is useful, not just for children already in trouble, but for all kids.
"You don’t have to be a bad kid to get something out of this," she said.
The videotape program, titled Scared Straight, 20 Years Later, is designed "to educate and deter juveniles who have to some degree been involved with juvenile delinquency, and to try to motivate juveniles toward a law-abiding lifestyle," according to police.
Fawzy stressed that she is interested in reaching all children, and not just those already involved with the law. She said one group that needs careful attention is kids who may have simply been disobedient of parents or teachers, or maybe even been involved in petty crimes.
"Kids may be breaking curfews, or trespassing, or getting into criminal mischief or hanging around drug users," she said. "I just want you to know where you’re heading if you don’t shape up," is the message she said the tape tries to impart. The other reason for the program is to educate children about how certain behaviors they might think are innocuous, are actually punishable crimes.

