Band 6+: "Putting criminals into prisons is not an effective way to deal with them. Instead, education and job training should be offered." To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The issue of whether addressing crime by punishing criminals or providing education and job training has been a contentious topic recently. In my opinion, improving education is a more effective and sustainable approach, which will be manifested in the following reasons and examples.

Although prisons plays significant role in isolating subversives and maintaining social stability, the system is essentially punitive rather than solving the root cause of criminals’ behaviors, causing the limit of reducing rate of crime, which reveals the value of finding an alternative solution such as supplying education and job training.

For one thing, providing high-quality education can address the root cause of committing crime. Specifically, through education, positive values can be imparted, pushing criminals recognize previous mistakes deeply and fundamentally; therefore, criminals can make informed and ethical ‘decisions, which can reduce the reoffending rate. For example, education instills critical thinking and self discipline to criminals, which can establish the cognitive that robbery, murder and other acts that harm other individuals and society should be uncompromisingly avoided, crime rate will decrease significantly.

For another thing, education and job training can create economic opportunities to solve some of the crime problems, precisely, which can enhance employment level, which can create better economic conditions and lessening poverty, which is one of the main cause of crime; thus, vicious cycle of poverty and crime can be broken, fewer people will turn to crime. For instance, once job training is provided to the poor, they can be equipped with skills and qualification, which increase their competitiveness in labour market, making it easier to find a job with steady income, which enable them to afford necessities and even luxuries, lowering the probability of robbery and stealing.

Considering all the reasons and examples discussed above, we can safely conclude that addressing crime by providing education and job training is far more efficient which can be attributed to the three main points—— addressing the root cause of crime, creating economic opportunities and the finitude of reducing crime rate though imprisonment.