Studies Show That Crime Rates Are Lower Among Those With Educational Degrees | Band 9 IELTS Essay Sample

Studies show that crime rates are lower among those with educational degrees. Therefore, the best way to reduce the crime rate is to educate criminals while they are still in prison. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Here is a band 9 IELTS essay on this topic. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me.

Band 9 IELTS essay sample

Studies have / research has shown that educated people are less likely to commit crime. Hence, some people opine that educating convicted criminals while they are still in jail is the best way to lower the crime rate in the society. I do not quite agree with this view. There is certainly no harm in educating prisoners, but chances of this measure reducing the crime rate are not particularly high.

Education certainly reforms people and reduces their chances of committing crime. This is mainly because educated people are more likely to find employment. Consequently, they do not have to commit crimes to earn money. Poverty is the number one cause of crime all over the world. If people can earn enough in legitimate ways, they will not want to break the law. Since education makes this possible, crime rates tend to be low in educated societies.

On the other hand, providing education alone is unlikely to prevent a convicted criminal from reoffending. Once they are out of prison, they need a means of living. If they received education in prison, in theory, it would be easier for them to find employment. This, unfortunately, is not the case in the real world. People will continue to look down upon an ex-prisoner regardless of whether or not they received education in prison. Most employers will not want to hire them even if they possess the required skills. This will actually make the ex-convicts feel worse and may even encourage them to commit more crimes in future. Hence, in my opinion, providing education to prisoners will help only if the government also has another scheme to rehabilitate them. If prisoners can find a job after completing their sentence, many of them will not want to take to crime again. In the absence of this rehabilitation option they may offend again and again.

In conclusion, educating prisoners will help reduce the crime rate only if they can find suitable employment after their jail term. In the absence of a viable rehabilitation scheme for ex-inmates, education will have no real bearing on their tendency to reoffend.

Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.