It is believed by some that sending wrongdoers to prison is the best way of tackling criminalism, while others think education and job training are better options. I completely disagree with the former point of view because it will destroy criminals’ mental condition, and support the latter opinion, since it deals with the main cause of criminalism.
My first argument is that prison sentences often break people’s mental health. It is usually hard for former prisoners to reintegrate back into society, and to be useful members of their community. Since they get used to restricted prison life with completely harsh rules and a negative environment, leading a good social life will be something unusual for their mentality. At prison, people are tend to solve their conflicts by fighting rather than having a quiet conversation. This way of communicating will probably fail in a normal society, where people are taught to solve their problems using words.
My second argument is that education and job training, in turn, deal with the root cause why people commit crimes. The primary reason people turn to a life of crime is because they are uneducated, and thus they may not have a stable source of income. Such vulnerable people are prone to shop lifting, stealing or scamming. Some of them may even use their hatred caused by such social inequality to damage the society even after leaving prison. In these cases, providing accessible education and job opportunities will detter them from breaking the law, and will encourage them to be law-abiding citizens.
In conclusion, I totally disagree with people who think prison senteces are the best way of treating criminals, since it will have an adverse effect on their psychology, and educating and job training will solve the primary cause of the problem.