Sending criminals to prison is not the best method of dealing with them. Education and job training are better ways to help them. Do you agree or disagree?

Intro: Agree partially. Some serious offenders need to be locked away but for all others some alternatives like education and job training are better.

Paragraph 1. Why prisons are not the best solution:

-          Maintaining prisons is very expensive

-          Less serious criminals learn new crimes by mixing with other criminals and these contacts may continue even after they are out of prison.

-          A jail sentence is supposed to act as a deterrent for further crime but statistics does not support this as many offenders return to prison time after time.

Paragraph 2: Why education and job training are better.

-          Illiteracy and poverty lead to crime. So education and job training gives people the skills to earn their livelihood.

Paragraph 3: Community work is also a good substitute for prison. The offenders can be made to provide free labour for any public building or maintenance of parks.

Conclusion: though prison sentences for all crimes could reduce the number of offences, there are stronger arguments for not imprisoning all offenders.