Many people believe that giving criminals long-term prison sentences is the most effective way to deal with them, while others think there are several ways to address the same problem. In this essay, I will discuss both views and explain why I support that this issue can be solved by some other ways.
On the one hand, it is understandable that many people support the idea of longer prison penalties. They think that putting criminals in jail for a long time will make them better and create a safe environment for other people. But many prisoners who received a long-term sentence tend to reoffend when released, which puts them back in prison again with a heavier sentence like life sentence, or even death penalty. For example, many studies have found that many criminals would not be scared about going to the jail for another time after being there for a long time, resulting in offending again. Moreover, a long-term prison sentence could make it difficult for criminals to find jobs in the future and they would do illegal activities like robbing again if they faced financial problems.
On the other hand, some people, including myself, think that governments can deal with crime by some ways. Firstly, governments should provide public services such as education in places where crime is likely to occur such as slums. For instance, in 2023, Brazil governments invested around 10 billion dollars to construct new schools for poor citizens so they could have access to education. And the crime rate in that country has dropped significantly, proving how important education is to having a safe society. Furthermore, we should create job opportunities for former prisoners so that they can have a better life after being released, leading to a better communities.
All in all, while giving criminals long-term prison sentences create many problems associated with it such as reoffending after being released, I believe that there are several ways like providing education and job opportunities can effectively address the same problem.