Well - Mean ing Pro grams Can Have Harm ful Ef fects ! Les sons From Ex per i ments of Pro grams Such as Scared Straight An thony

Despite their impor tance in assess ing the impact of pol i cies, out come eval u a tions—and in par tic u lar ran dom ized exper i ments—are rel a tively rare. The ratio nal iza tions used to jus tify the absence of out come eval u a tions include such asser tions as “we know our pro grams are work ing,” “they can’t pos si bly harm any one,” and “if they only help one kid they’re worth it.” Using pre lim i nary results from a sys tem atic review of nine ran dom ized exper i ments of the Scared Straight, or prison vis i ta tion pro gram, the authors show that a pop u lar and well-mean ing pro gram can have harm ful effects. They use these results to argue for more rig or ous eval u a tions to test crim i nal jus tice inter ven tions.