You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people who have been in prison become good citizens later and it is often argued that these are the best people to talk to teenagers about the dangers of committing a crime. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer 1:
It is true that we should hate crimes, not the criminals as they are also the human being. Evidence shows that good individuals are forced to commit a crime and are convicted and many ex-prisoners become normal members of our society. Since they have suffered from the isolation and punishment, they can share their experience with teenagers and encourage them to abide by the laws and rules.
To begin with, rehabilitated offenders have experience about the prison life and the types of wrongdoing people get involved in. They can share those experience with the teenagers and young people are more likely to accept advice from someone who speaks from real life experience. This can be a great arrangement to let the adolescents know how someone gets involved in a crime and how they suffer for this. It would discourage them from committing crimes and become good citizens. I presume those teenagers will have many questions and the ex-prisoners are the best persons to answer those and this will have a powerful impact on the fresh minds.
Moreover, people who have been punished by the law would benefit from this arrangement as well. They would feel better by sharing their stories and this is a great way to stay away from crimes for these people. They would also feel connected to the society and would be glad for doing something good. Alternative ways of educating young people about the menaces of committing a crime are letting teachers educate students. However, in my opinion, this is not that efficient as students would treat those as class lectures, not real life interesting stories to listen to carefully. Educating students through stories and films can also be effective but they are not as much interactive as sessions with ex-prisoners.
To conclude, we should educate our young generation about the consequences of committing crimes and I believe they would learn this better from reformed prisoners who speaks from their experience.
Sample answer 2
It is true that several people have changed themselves to be a better person after they had been released from prison. And it is believed that they are better in giving advice to young people about the negative effect of crime. I personally agree with the statement and the following essay will discuss in details about it.
To begin with, it is a fact that the public usually has negative images to ex-prisoners, but not all of them have a bad personality. As some prisons provide technical skill and personal development program to their prisoners, many of them have successfully followed these positive programs. These courses have changed their character and provided them with adequate skill, therefore, they were accepted back in the society. Many of them have learned their lessons during imprisonment, as they worked harder and became more successful than the regular people. Apart from psychopath criminals, an ordinary person, who has committed crimes and has been sentenced to be imprisoned often understand the value of life and thus changes radically.
But in many countries, the crime rate among young people has been increasing significantly in the past few years. I believe that the best way to reduce the rate is by having some campaigns and testimonials from former prisoners who had changed their life. With their shares, it is hoped that it will open and broaden the view of the young people, about the dangerous side of crime. They would also become an effective mentor because they understand the condition of these teenagers, as they had experienced the same situation before. With their guidance, it is hoped that many teenagers will improve their life and become a better person.
In conclusion, I totally agree that some former prisoners who had changed their life would be a good advisor for the young generation. Their unpleasant experience would be a valuable lesson for the young people and hope that the teenagers would avoid crime activities in the future.
[ Written by – Darwin Lesmana ]
Sample answer 3
There is no doubt that crime rates have dramatically increased over the last few years. Some criminals managed themselves to become good human beings while their stay in prisons. One of the reasons is that they have practically seen the problems and sacrifice they had to make. Some people argue that these are the best examples of creating awareness about crimes in teenagers. However, others state that a person with a criminal background will not leave indispensable impressions on people minds.
Firstly, it is the duty of government and the people to identify the aspects of crimes in teenagers. After that, there should be workshop and seminars which should highlight the consequences of committing crimes. It is also the responsibility of parents and guardian to have an eye on their children’s activities. While making little efforts, one can save many criminal activities in their surroundings.
Secondly, people who were the part of immoral doings and became good citizens after prison could help teenagers in eradicating this short of sins. They have personally experienced all the suffering they had to go through after compelling crime. They know the possible reason, why and how youngsters get involved in such cruel doings. Their worlds would leave undeniable impressions on people minds and will help to eliminate crime from the society.
Finally, I strongly believe that once a criminal is not always a criminal. If one has regret about his past and has changed himself should be treated like a normal human being. Furthermore, they could help teenager from remaining away crimes while telling them about their sacrifice of time, health and family.
[ Written by – Fahad Sultan ]
Sample answer 4
In recent years, imprisonment is assumed as the finest method of punishment to offenders of law because after running the punishment time, the majority of people tend to be good members of the society. This condition derives plenty of people think that the prisoners are convenient speakers to talk to adolescents about the precarious of breaking the laws. I personally agree with that statements and I have some reasons to support it which will be explained briefly in the following paragraph.
First and foremost, detention given to the criminals is usually followed by training and educations that will be utilised in their future life. For instance, they are taught about religion and how to survive their life in the right way such as lessons for becoming a tailor or a painter. Those lessons make them likely to be better inhabitants and might easier to be accepted in their circumstances after completing their penalty.
Furthermore, due to the experiences obtained as long as running punishment, they seem to become suitable speakers to tell the teens about the difficulties that might be faced when living in a prison .To illustrate, they can share how regretful they are after committing a bad action and how they felt and repented because they cannot meet their family and cannot act freely like others. This story will certainly be remembered by the adolescents since they hear about those bad impacts directly from the prisoners so they will think twice if they want to disobey the applied rule.
In a nutshell, It can be concluded that majority of people become better citizens after obtaining lessons at the jail and because of the experiences acquired in the jail, they are likely to be suitable people to tell the teenagers about drawbacks which occur owing to be a criminal.
[ Written by – Izzah Raisya ]
Sample answer 5
It is true that imprisonment helps the offenders to develop an acceptable character in the society and family. Even though ex-offenders can teach about the consequences of crime very clearly, I am of the opinion that they are not role models for the teenagers due to various reasons.
To start with, teenagers should not learn the effects of illegal activities from the ex-lawbreakers as this way of learning may cause to generate a tendency for imitating such activities in children’s minds, especially who have a lack of maturity and curiosity. Moreover, since ex-offenders have the past history of crime, they are not ideal individuals to teach the younger generation effectively. Social stigma is another factor, which means that social leaders often try to keep away the ex-prisoners from the mainstream of society owing to social status issues. Consequently, they are reinforced to engage in criminal activities repeatedly and they would also be terribly isolated.
Again, each society has their own prestigious law enforcement system to promote legal awareness in children, which is more effective teaching than learning from the ex-offenders. As such, ex-prisoners are not required to guide teenagers in spite of jail life experience for a certain period of time. An ideal example would be the organisation of awareness programmes of the police department in school settings in India.
In contrast, there is another line of thought that ex-prisoners are the ideal teachers to make awareness among children regarding the detrimental effects of criminal offences because they have real life exposure in such tough situations. Apart from this, these bitter lessons about punishments can create a strong influence in children, which in turn can generate an innate fear in them to involve any criminal activity. Eventually, children would deter from lawbreaking activities and they become productive citizens in future. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the ex-prisoners have a clear criminal background and an inner desire to perform such activities again.
To conclude, despite certain advantages, ex-offenders cannot be effective mentors in teaching ill effects of offences due to many challenges.
[ Written by – Jincy Joy ]