Task 2 - Youth crime -IELTS EXAM ( 2017-09-30)

Task 2

The best way to reduce youth crime is to educate their parents with parental skills. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Essay Plan:
Introduction: parents play an important role in bringing up their children to be good citizens. Educating parents on raising children is not the best way to reduce youth crime.
Paragraph 2: education in parental skills would reduce youth crime. Not practical to extend this education to every family – need to target problem families. If parents have a social conscience, they will not allow anti-social behaviour by their children.
Paragraph 3: strict law enforcement is the best way to reduce youth crime: prison sentences, probation, community service: example of the UK.
Conclusion: teaching parental skills is a good way to reduce youth crime, but strict law enforcement is the best way.
Essay:
It is true that parents should play a significant role in reducing youth crime by bringing up their children to be law-abidingcitizens. However, I disagree that educating parents on how to raise their children is the most effective way to reduce juvenile crime.
Counselling in parental skills would reduce youth crime. Family background is an important influence in shaping a child’s personality, and parental involvement is essential in teaching children the right moral values. While advice on parenting skills should be given to parents, it is not practical to extend this to every family. Local authorities which provide social services must provide some form of counselling to single parent households, dysfunctional families or to parentsin homes where there is domestic violence. Parenting advice should be incorporated into a package of assistance to such families in all countries where a welfare state exists. If parents are educated to have a social conscience, then they will be more aware of the dangers of allowing their adolescent children to turn to crime or drugs.
Strict law enforement is, however, the most effective means to reduce youth crime. Judges and magistrates must be tough on crime and should apply the letter of the law when juvenile offenders come before the courts. The punishments imposed on youths who break the law must act as a deterrent against re-offending. Youths should serveprison sentences when they commit serious offences, and there are other effective non-custodial sentences which could be imposed. In the UK, for example, youngsters are sometimes put on probation or given a chance of reintegrating back into society through performing some community service.

In conclusion, though teaching parental skills would help to reduce youth crime, a policy of harsh sentencing is the most effective measure.

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