User:MrX/sandbox/Troubled-teen industry

Troubled-teen industry refers to the organizations and practice of those organizations whose purpose is to alter the behavior of teenagers using strict discipline, exercise, forced labor, isolation, corporal punishment and other techniques. The industry is estimated to be a $2 billion per year business.

As of 2013 there are 160 programs listed by the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP), up from 115 in 2002. The industry is largely unregulated, with some states having no licensing requirements for residential programs.

Backlash
The industry has been criticized for wide-ranging abuses and even deaths. Hacktivist group Anonymous has made efforts to expose organizations for alleged physical, psychological and sexual abuses. The independent documentary film Kidnapped for Christ portrays the experiences of children who were forcibly taken from their homes and sent to an evangelical-Christian-owned reform school in the Dominican Republic where they were subjected to intense forced labor, physical beatings, and various forms of emotional abuse.