Should criminals be punished with lengthy jail terms?

IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Should criminals be punished with lengthy jail terms or re-educated and rehabilitated using community service programs for instance, before being reintroduced to society?

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer:

Nobody is born as a criminal. Circumstances and situations often make a person to be a criminal. However, when it comes to issue that how we should treat these criminals, people are divide in their opinions.Some people opine that the criminals deserve to be punished with a longer jail sentence, but others, on the other hand, seem soft on criminals that they want to train the criminals so as to hone their skills and competencies, and to engage the criminals in community service programmes so that they can contribute to the society. From my way of thinking, I believe that they should get chance so they can be a responsible member of the society contributing positively

Re-educating and rehabilitating of criminals using community service programs is an excellent policy instead of confining them to jail for long term. This means working to make a perpetrator functioning member of society. Not only can the policy transform a perpetrator into responsible member of the society, but also it can contribute to the society tangibly. Let me clarify a bit more. Community service programs are court-ordered volunteer works. It offers offenders, through unpaid work on community, an opportunity to repair some of the harms caused by their criminal activities and which benefits neighbourhoods, communities, voluntary, local schools, community and charitable organizations.

Again, human behavior is subject to the same law as many other natural phenomena. That is to say that our customs, values, and behavior are the byproducts of our atmosphere. No one is born with hatred, prejudice, bigotry, greed, honesty and patriotism. These are all acquired from the surroundings. If we can alter the environment, these perpetrators may lead their life to the opposite direction. And in the case, community service programs could be the key to unlock the door of change.

To sum up, lengthy jail terms or re-educated and rehabilitated are basically the two streams of thoughts on what the goal of criminal sentencing ought to be: justice for the victim, which is generally used to mean the punishment for the offenders, and rehabilitation for the criminal which means transforming him as a good citizen. I think second one is the right choice we should make.