In many countries prisons is considered the best way to

decrease crime. However, education is often argued to be

more effective way. Which opinion do you most agree with?
Imprisonment is generally/mostly considered the best way/ideal
method to reform/rectify the behavior of criminals and bring
down illegal activities/crime in the
society. Whereas/However/But, of late, many people are
convinced/believe/are of the opinion that education is a better
way to do it. This essay attempts/tries to analyse this issue in
detail.
On the one hand, as prisons can deprive a persons freedom it
would dissuade/deter people from committing a criminal
offence/illegal activity. For example, if a criminal activity would
deny a young man the freedom to pursue his favourite career or a
happy life with his girlfriend, he is likely to resist the temptation of
committing a crime. Moreover, the experience of being confined to a
limited space for a certain period of time can act as great deterrent
against crime.
Similarly, a great deal of social disgrace/stigma is attached to
being detained in a jail. For instance, not many people would risk
losing their honour/respect before their friends, family and society
through imprisonment.
Furthermore, long imprisonment/incarceration can keep
compulsive criminals and serial offenders away from the society and
indulging in crime. To explain, psychopaths with criminal tendencies
need to be separated from the mainstream of society as they cannot
be reformed easily. All the above points clearly indicate the need for
prisons to reduce crime in the society.
On the other hand, educating criminals about the implications of
crime and supplementing to their educational and
vocationaldeficiencies/inadequacies can definitely discourage them
from committing further crimes to an extent. However, it can reduce
the fear of committing a crime. Such methods cannot work
independently but only as an addition to prison sentence.

In short, imprisonment is the best way to decrease crime rate in the

society and other methods including education have proved to less
effective or can only work as addition to imprisonment.