IELTS Writing Correction Service
Writing Samples
Band 5.5

“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

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There is no doubt that we need to find effective forms of punishment for
criminals
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, and
also
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 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
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, I do not accept that all
criminals
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 need to be separated from society. Juvenile and minor offenders can be punished through fines, community service or other non-custodial means.
This
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 is cheaper than prison
,
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apply
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 and prevents the damage to the criminal’s family which in itself could generate
further
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 social problems.
Furthermore
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, by keeping these small-scale
criminals
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 in society, we can try to rehabilitate them,
for example
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 through training or education programmes.
This
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 will help to reduce reoffending in future.
Besides
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this
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, if offenders are believed to be a threat to their fellow citizens, there are ways of containing them
such
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 as electronic tagging, curfews or regular reporting to the police.
Such
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 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
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, 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
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 than when they entered. Of course, it is true that in certain cases we need to both punish
criminals
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 and isolate them from other people. I recognise that violent or dangerous people need to be imprisoned – yet I believe
this
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 applies to a small minority of instances.
To conclude
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, I feel that prison is a
last
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 resort in cases where there is no alternative.
This
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 does not make it the only effective punishment, but rather the most severe among a variety of possibilities.

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Structure your answers in logical paragraphs

The easiest way to score well on the IELTS Task 2 writing portion is to structure your writing in a solid essay format.

A strong argument essay structure can be split up into 4 paragraphs, each containing 4 sentences (except the conclusion paragraph, which only contains 3 sentences).

Stick to this essay structure:

  • Paragraph 1 - Introduction
  • Paragraph 2 - First supporting paragraph
  • Paragraph 3 - Second supporting paragraph
  • Paragraph 4 - Conclusion

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