You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people believe that once a person becomes a criminal, he will always be a criminal. Do you agree with this statement?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.

MODEL ANSWER>>>

There exists an opinion that it is difficult to uproot a criminal mentality from a person, once it had established a link with his personality. In most cases, the view appears to be true, but I think it varies from person to person.

The predominant reason why I believe so is because of the social stigma. To be precise, once the society perceives a person as a criminal, it is hard for them to replace that image even after quite a long period. This social neglection sows the seeds of desperation and hostility among the ones who come out from prisons after their respective terms. The result is none other than staying in their own existing social images.

The second factor which holds a person inside the radius of the crime circle is because of their integration with more serious criminals, mostly inside the prison. One should understand the fact that people of common interests cling together, whichever the situation may be. For example, most prisons are termed as institutions where crimes are taught. Similarly, outside the prison, there are ample opportunities for them to reintegrate and establish a stronger anti-social group.

However, unbelievable behaviour modifications are seen in some cases. There are various factors which attribute to this transformation such as psychological approaches from the respective persons, formal education and vocational training, and mostly these are indeed a part of rehabilitation. The irony is that very few turn towards this way, and once they are in, they could transform themselves to productive citizens.

To conclude, though there are instances which transformation occurs in criminals, the external factors mostly would not allow them to come out from their existing status.

Word count: 280