Up next
Darius John Rubin
One year after Ashley Tropez was supposedly “scared straight,” the reality show caught up with Tropez to see where her life stood after seeing what prison was like as a teen. Sadly, the then-18-year-old admitted that she never planned on stopping her criminal activity. “After the jail visit, I can honestly say that Ashley’s actually gotten worse,” Tropez’s aunt, Jennifer, told the camera crew.
In the “Beyond Scared Straight” revisit, Jennifer revealed that Tropez’s uncle, Thomas, basically raised Tropez and exposed her to gang activity. “Before she even went to the jail, I knew it wasn’t gonna scare her,” Thomas explained in the episode. “How do you scare somebody who’s been dealing with the police their whole life.” At the end of the follow-up, it was unveiled that Tropez actually went to prison for 40 days on gun possession and robbery charges with three years of probation.
While there was hope of “rehabilitation” since the show claimed that Tropez was enrolled in online classes, she continued her involvement in gang activity since her family life was so intertwined with it. The emotional complexities behind joining a gang were seemingly disregarded by “Beyond Scared Straight,” which is a source of criticism the show has drawn. According to the Daily Beast, studies have suggested that participation in “Beyond Scared Straight” has often resulted in an increase in criminal instances.
