Prison or no prison?

In a world where crime is an everyday occurrence and manifests itself in

many different kinds and forms, punishing all criminals with imprisonment might
not be the morally and financially responsible thing to do. While I do agree that
prison is the only acceptable penalty for serious criminal offence, minor law
violations should be corrected with unpaid community work regulated by specific
law acts.

First and foremost, there are a number of minor crimes such as petty theft
and trespassing that do not put into grave danger or harm other individuals. Such
crimes are often committed by younger adults or people who have the necessity for
food or shelter. It is morally improper to liken such crimes with first degree
murder, robbery or embezzlement, and therefore also morally unacceptable to
administer the same punishment. Community work might give those people a
purpose and take them out of their criminal ways, while at the same time doing the
society a huge favor.

Furthermore, imprisonment might not be financially justified. The cost for

providing for the prisoners can be significant, depending on the duration of the
sentence, whereas unpaid community work will certainly be beneficial for the
government. The offenders will perform the work that the government would have
to pay for otherwise, as it will have to employ and pay people to clean the litter,
mow the public areas and parks etc.

All in all, unpaid community work is definitely the way to go when it comes
to minor crimes and should be implemented in every legislation with specific
criteria and concrete laws.