Some people think improving living conditions within society is a superior approach to crime prevention while some others think that giving severe punishment is more important. Discuss both views and give your opinion about that.

With the rising number of crimes happening in the community at the moment, the Indonesian government is trying to work on ways to reduce and even prevent crime happening in the future. Some people suggest that the government needs to provide better living conditions in the community while others think that imposing more severe punishment is far more significant and effective. This essay will elaborate both views and provide the writer personal opinion on that. First and foremost, some people believe that in order to reduce crime happening in society, the government needs to improve the quality of life of the community. These people stated that the major reasons the criminals make a violence action such as stealing or bank robbing is due to the lack of resources they have to survive. They don’t have a better job, or their salary is enough for living. To cope with this, the government may encourage companies or factories to improve their worker's monthly salary, then it will result in a better living standard, impacting in reducing the unnecessary crime such as thief and robber. However, this approach may not be effective for those who committing to crime such as murder, corruption, and rape. The causes of such are not related to economy but rather to a person’s character and self-control. Therefore, improving the living standard may not be a suitable faster approach to prevent actions. On the other hand, some community members suggest that the government should provide more severe punishment to provide deterrence since there are several cases proved to be effective to reduce the crime in some communities. In a case that happened in a Javanese kingdom, there was a queen that cut the thief's hands because of stealing a cow from their neighbour. This decision inclines fear among people, even preventing them from committing such crime in the future. Furthermore, there was also a case in which the Indonesian government punished the drug dealer to a death sentence due to smuggling a large amount of heroin. This case is still debatable and raises a number of disputes. However, it is quite effective to prevent other drug dealers movement in Indonesia. These incidents might be the reasons why these people believe that providing severe punishment will be far more effective than providing better living. Personally, the writer thinks that the government should work on both approaches to avoid crime happening in the future. Giving a harsh punishment will make the criminal think twice before committing into several crime such as murder, rape, stealing and burglary. Moreover, it is important to improve the community standard of living as well, such as providing jobs for beggars, increasing the salary of employees, or giving skill developing training and modal for those who have previous crime experience. These actions may be beneficial as the last resort to reduce crime in the future. Doing both actions with help to reduce crime among people.