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?

Experts claim that degree holders engage less in criminal activities and some even recommend that the most effective and easy way to reduce crime rate is to educate the criminals in prison. This, in my opinion, can prove to be a very pragmatic solution to the soaring crime rates. Possessing an educational degree opens up doors to a better and brighter future. It aids inmates to see and identify a separate route once released. One of the major and the most apparent reasons behind the escalating illegal activities is unemployment, therefore, providing these people with a degree in any of their fields of interests can have a dramatic effect on the choices they make later in their life, and also, on the number of choices they get. An inmate whose aptitude for mechanics gets acknowledged and worked upon during his serving time will have a host of distinct job opportunities than he did if he simply served his time, hence, significantly downscaling the crime rate and also helping them becoming an asset to the society. Further, the burden beared by the government to curb the crime rates in a state or a territory gets tremendously reduced. In a recent study, it was found that nearly 40% of the released inmates appear for resentencing. Imparting education to prisoners will intensify the efforts of the authority towards those more vulnerable to crime and unlawful acts. Proper tutoring and coaching during imprisonment helps them to re-enter the society and better support themselves as well as their families and help reinstill self-esteem and confidence. Consequently, the number of such inmates will decrease, hence mitigating misconduct. To conclude, it may be argued by some taxpayers that such education provisions are a waste of funds, but if taken into consideration the long term beneficial effects of such reforms on both taxpayers as well as the administration, it proves to be a highly productive solution to bring down the crime graph.