There have always been debates in terms of approaches to deter crime, and out of two of them, enhancing conditions of life would be a far more effective than threatening potential criminals with punishment. I completely agree with this statement and will explore this topic further in my essay.
First of all, while punishment surely successfully restrains criminals from violating the rules for a period of their punishment and discourages other people from committing it, it is a straightforward way of fighting against crime but not a beneficial approach of preventing it. If looking deeper, seeking for the reasons of the crimes being committed in the first place, it can be clearly witnessed that poor living conditions have a significant impact on the rate of crime. For example, a major study shoes that in counties with worse conditions of life provided by government, the level of minor and major offences commited was much higher that in those where conditions were better. Therefore, crime rate of a country can be directly correlated to the quality of life there.
There are some ways in which living conditions could be improved, for instance: Provide people with regular medical examination to identify those with psychological issues on the early stages, make vital things for life more affordable, in order to deprive them of necessity to steal, check mental health of parents, teachers and other people who surround younger generations to avoid bullying and physical or psychological abuse.
In conclusion, affordable healthcare and items for life, as well as checkings of people who work with children are ways of deterring crime if analysing its roots, while imprisonment and fines are onlt suitable to fight against individuals who have already violated the law.