By Angelina Vollucci
Staff Writer
Military-style camps often use “scared-straight” programs with strict discipline to rehabilitate at-risk teens, an accepted practice as long as it’s responsible.
Kelvin McFarland, a former Marine and founder of McFarland’s Family First Growth Camp, overstepped these disciplinary boundaries in his camps for troubled teens afflicted by gangs or drug addiction.
Investigation and reform of his program and others like it is long overdue. Two disturbing videos surfaced of McFarland’s abusive treatment of teens at his boot camp. Teen participants in the video are forced to drink water until they vomit, and McFarland and other instructors screamed at a pre-teen boy who was forced to hold a heavy car tire.
This video sparked negative publicity and led to the beginning of criminal proceedings against McFarland. McFarland’s disciplinary tactics crossed the line of acceptable treatment, constituting nothing less than child abuse.
These forms of punishment defeat the program’s original purpose of helping delinquent teens and raise questions about a lack of oversight on these programs.
McFarland is additionally facing trial on felony charges of kidnapping, extortion, child abuse and unlawful use of a badge for allegedly handcuffing a truant Pasadena teen and extorting money from her family to enroll her in his program in May.
Although he has not been convicted, McFarland has shown himself to be hypocritical as he preaches strict adherence to the law and good citizenship. The fact that he was able to practice for as long as he had demonstrates that programs like his are not properly monitored. At-risk teenagers should not be exposed to discipline that is detrimental to their physical and emotional health.
In order to prevent other programs from operating abusively like McFarland’s, local and state authorities need to exercise their authority and regulate community help services where minors are involved.
In fact, similar “scared straight” programs run by law-enforcement have proven successful in improving the lives of at-risk teens. In Los Angeles, a boot camp for teens at Fremont High School is run entirely by Los Angeles Police Department officers. The camp, Juvenile Impact Program, involves military-style techniques to teach discipline without becoming abusive.
Authority is not relegated to individuals, and mandated guidelines of the Fremont camp help avoid the abuses of power like those found elsewhere. It is a model that should be followed in order to effectively combat problems surrounding other camps.
There is a fine line between strict disciplinary methods and child abuse that McFarland crossed. Investigation and oversight based on Fremont’s “scared straight” programs can make these camps effective and appropriate.
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