Research suggests that majority of criminals who were sent to prison would commit crimes when set free. What do you think of this case? What to be done to solve this problem?
ESSAY #237 FROM OUR BOOK
Crime is a big problem all over the world and there are many different opinions on the best way to reduce crime. The traditional solution is to punish the criminals by putting them in prison. It has been seen that when criminals are set free from prison, majority of them re-offend. In the following paragraphs, I shall suggest some causes of this phenomenon and suggest some solutions.
To begin with, in traditional prisons, people learn a lot about crime and so when they leave prison they tend to commit even more crime. In other words, prisons act as universities of crime. Secondly, after being set free some may even want to lead a good and peaceful life, but people of the community do not accept them and as a result they do not get any jobs. They are forced to re-offend because they have to fulfil their basic needs. Finally, some may commit crime again because they do not have the training or qualification to do any job.
Many steps can be taken to minimize the gravity of the situation. First of all, petty offenders like shoplifters and pickpockets should be given some vocational training and education. It is a well not fact that the basic causes of crime are poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. So, if we provide education and job training then we would be removing the causes of crime. If some form of employment rehabilitates criminals then they would certainly not re-offend.
Furthermore, community service such as maintaining parks and doing some construction work can be taken from criminals instead of just putting them into prisons. In this way, they feel they are part of the community and the community also starts accepting them.
Summing up, we should hate the crime and not the criminal. To fight crime we should focus on the causes of crime. Education and job training help to rehabilitate the criminals. So, the focus should be on reforming the criminals so that they do not re-offend.
