IELTS Essay # 22 - Some people believe that crime rate can be reduced by giving a long punishment, while others say there are alternate ways to reduce crime.

Essay # 22

Some people believe that crime rate can be reduced by giving a long punishment, while others say there are alternate ways to reduce crime. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Reducing the crime rate of a region has always been a challenging task for any government. Whether to use the traditional method of long prison sentences, or to use some of the unconventional methods to curb criminal activities, is a question examined by many. This essay shall discuss both the options in detail.

Long prison sentences are given to offenders to make them realize their mistake and penance for it. They are cut off from the civil world in order to understand the graveness of consequence they are facing so that they do not repeat their offence again in fear of such a punishment. Staying in jails for a long time also deters the desire of a person to commit more crimes. A prisoner who has been jailed for a long time can be properly analysed on whether he has been rehabilitated or not, and whether he should be let out, as compared to prisoners serving shorter punishments.

On the contrary, some say that the prison sentences only make the criminals more stubborn, and fail to rehabilitate them in most cases nowadays. There’s a good chance they’ll mix up with other criminals thereby bringing no change in their thought process. The other alternatives that can be suggested here are doing community service, where the offenders contribute to public works like picking trash; making them attend rehabilitation and counselling seminars can also help them see the light of their actions. That and running education programs can also be successful, as most of the criminals commit crimes out of necessity to earn, as they aren’t qualified to get jobs.

To conclude, there’s no clear answer for why some alternatives to reducing crime rate work and why others fail. But the reasonable solution seems to be helping people behind bars learn from their mistakes and move forward to become better citizens, proving to be beneficial to both them and the society.

(318 words)