“Prison is the only truly effective form of punishment, because it separates criminals from society.” To what extent do you support this view? You should give reasons for your answer, and include ideas and examples from your own knowledge and experience. Write at least 250 word

There is no doubt that we need to find effective forms of punishment for

criminals

, and

also

find ways to protect citizens from the threat of crime. I personally feel that prison is only one of a range of options we should use, and is not always the most effective.

Firstly

, I do not accept that all

criminals

need to be separated from society. Juvenile and minor offenders can be punished through fines, community service or other non-custodial means.

This

is cheaper than prison

,

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and prevents the damage to the criminal’s family which in itself could generate

further

social problems.

Furthermore

, by keeping these small-scale

criminals

in society, we can try to rehabilitate them,

for example

through training or education programmes.

This

will help to reduce reoffending in future.

Besides

this

, if offenders are believed to be a threat to their fellow citizens, there are ways of containing them

such

as electronic tagging, curfews or regular reporting to the police.

Such

methods have been shown to be effective in reducing criminal behaviour and are themselves quite a strong punishment, as they restrict an offender’s freedom greatly.

Finally

, we should remember that prisons are to some extent ‘schools of crime’ and in many

cases

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cases,

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prisoners end their jail terms as more capable and determined

criminals

than when they entered. Of course, it is true that in certain cases we need to both punish

criminals

and isolate them from other people. I recognise that violent or dangerous people need to be imprisoned – yet I believe

this

applies to a small minority of instances.

To conclude

, I feel that prison is a

last

resort in cases where there is no alternative.

This

does not make it the only effective punishment, but rather the most severe among a variety of possibilities.