Some people think that the best way to reduce crime is to give longer prison sentences. Others, however, believe there are better alternative ways of reducing crime. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Recently one of my friend was attacked in the middle of downtown by a group of young boys and, he had to surrender and give away all of his belongings to save his life. When he told me about this incident, it made me think more about overall crime scene in our society. There are different solutions proposed from all levels of society to contain crime. This essay will compare two viewpoints, one is increasing prison sentences to curb criminal activities and other alternatives which have more impact to achieve minimal crime rate. In current legal system, each crime has a defined punishment and overall duration of sentences varies as per the intensity of the crime. Criminals get by easily for smaller crimes and, they become free very soon to loot next innocent victim. This cycle keeps repeating and some of the goons use it to their advantage and become fearless because of shorter duration of punishment. It might help to revisit existing laws and revise punishments for smaller crimes too, so that even looters will also think twice before daring to think about doing something similar again. On the other hand, there are thoughts around making prison sentences more efficient to help rehabilitate criminals faster. Introducing life changing programs, meditation and making people learn a new skill might help them to make them employable in outside world. Another aspect is increasing police force and deploying more cops on duty might also help to keep criminals in control. In conclusion, I suggest all these options should be married together to come up with a stronger system to enforce law in day-to-day life to establish harmony for all levels of society.