7. Beyond Scared Straight
We have already touched upon the idea of fear torture, which will continue to appear on this list, and A&Es Beyond Scared Straight serves as one of the most life changing torture shows to date. Gathering a group of unruly teens, police and security officers usher young offenders behind the bars of maximum security prisons for a taste of what their futures holds should they stay on their respective tracks. This show doesnt stop with visual shock value, going further to subject the teens to the protocol when admitting new felons into the system. Standing up against the walls, being shouted at until they tear, and being face to face with mobs of angry prisoners, the teens are exposed to too much, too soon, the idea being that they go home new people. What makes this show torture is the absolute shock factor. Teens can be little brats sometimes. I know I was a pain growing up. If I were subjected, however, to this line of treatment as a means to change my brattish ways, I wouldnt come out a better person, I would come out a complete shut in. I would never go outside again, lose a trust for the police force, and become a homebody in order to avoid any sort of confrontation. The teens on this show try so hard to keep their wits together that the audience can watch as they physically break. Sure, they can take getting screamed at (which I cant), they can take being pushed against walls and yanked up from the ground (which I cant), but usually talking to the prisoners one on one or being thrust head first into a pile of screaming felons, chanting about how they would rip their sneakers off of their feet or cut them while they slept in their cells is what gets the children to crumble. What makes this show entertaining is the fact that these teens are terrible, terrible children. We are tired of watching bad parenting shows. We want to see a kid who mouths off get smacked in the teeth and this show does it for us. Beyond Scared Straight uses mental torture over the other forms and we are immediately forced to question our own composure were we in the teens shoes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JdRwpujc0Q