Sheriff says ‘Scared Straight’ program helps troubled kids. Experts say it’s child abuse

The Charlotte Observer

Sheriff’s deputies pushed them against jail-yard fences and shoved them to the ground. They yelled and cursed within inches of their faces. They forced them to run for long periods, ignoring pleas for breaks, until some vomited.

Receiving this treatment: Kids and teens — one was 8 years old.  

None of the children were in custody for breaking the law. But their unruly behavior had troubled parents, who had asked deputies to teach them a tough lesson.

Since its inception in 2013, hundreds of boys and girls have been sent to ’“Project S.T.O.R.M.,” a jail program in Chester County, S.C., that is designed to scare at-risk kids into better behavior.

The Herald was given permission to observe Project S.T.O.R.M — short for Showing Teens Our Real Mission — in June 2018 and in January. The Herald and The Charlotte Observer then shared video of interactions between deputies and children with six experts. All six criticized the program. Five called the treatment child abuse.

“It is physical abuse,” said Kenneth Dodge, a child psychologist who formerly headed Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy. “…This tactic would be called torture if the prisoner were a member of the Taliban.”

Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood, who created the program, disputes that it is abusive. But in a recent interview with The Herald and The Charlotte Observer, he acknowledged that his deputies can be “pretty tough.” That, he contended, is what it takes to deter some youths from crimes that will lead to something far worse — prison.

Nationally, such programs gained new attention in 2011 after the launch of A&E’s “Beyond Scared Straight” program, which featured Chester’s Project S.T.O.R.M.

But many studies have found there’s a fundamental problem: The programs don’t work.

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