Some people believe that there should be fixed punishments for each type of crime. Others, however, argue that the circumstances of an individual crime, and the motivation for committing it, should always be taken into account when deciding on the punishment. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Sample Response
Many people debate whatdebate on what should be done about punishment foron criminals. Some individuals believe that there should be a standard punishmentthere should be standard punishment for every kind of crime and that standard should be followedand that should be followed while sentencing a criminal. Yet, some others argue that the reasons for the crimereasons for crime and circumstances in which the crime was committedbackground of executing crime should be considered while determining proper punishment for criminals. This essay will take a look at this issue from both points of viewviews.
To begin with, people may support imposing fixedagree to impose fixed standard punishment on criminals based on the crime they committed. By doing this, criminals will be punished according to the crime they committedmade and it seems fair for everyone since they believe the more serious the crime, the harsher the sentencethe bigger the crime, the harder the prison. For example, imposing the death penalty on both a murderer and a terroristdeath penalty to both murderer and terrorist who have committed the same type of crimecommitted to the same type of crime seems reasonable to many people. It is comparably serious crimesa considerably equal crime and therefore, they should be sentenced to deathpunished by death sentence. When someone kills a person, no matter what the reason wasno matter what was the reason, theys/he should be punished according to the predetermined laws.
On the other hand, others argue that in determining the proper punishment for criminals, there should be consideration of the motives for the crimesome considerations of what were the motives of crime and also the background of criminals. There must be different punishments fordifferent punishment between a serial killer and someone who was forced to kill in self-defencefor self-defending. Applying the same punishmentApplying same punishment to the woman who stole a loaf of bread from a store to feed her hungry baby and a corrupt government employee who stole millions of dollarsdollar to amass his wealth is not at all justified though stealing was the crime in both cases.
All in all, fixed punishment is needed to standardise punishment for different crimes. Nonetheless, there should be some considerations on the motives and environment of criminals in imposing the proper punishment.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The essay gives a balanced discussion of standardised sentencing and case-specific punishment, using contrasting examples to make the second view especially clear. Its main limitation is precision: some examples are logically questionable and frequent legal collocation and grammar errors weaken otherwise coherent reasoning. Prioritise a more explicit final opinion and express the comparison through accurate terms such as offence severity, mitigating circumstances, and proportional sentencing.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both views are developed with relevant examples and the conclusion supports a qualified combination of consistency and individual consideration, though the precise preference could be clearer.
State explicitly how fixed sentencing guidelines should interact with mitigating circumstances, and use a sounder example for equal offences.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay has clear progression through an introduction, one paragraph for each view, and a balanced conclusion, with generally effective signposting.
Strengthen cohesion by linking each example directly back to fairness or proportionality instead of repeating references to punishment and crime.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient range for the legal topic, but frequent inaccurate collocations and word forms reduce precision.
Use natural phrases such as 'sentence offenders,' 'commit an offence,' 'receive the death penalty,' and 'act in self-defence.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the argument, but article, agreement, preposition, and clause errors occur regularly.
Check articles and prepositions in legal noun phrases and revise embedded questions such as 'what the motives were.'
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people believe that there should be fixed punishments for each type of crime. Others, however, argue that the circumstances of an individual crime, and the motivation for committing it, should always be taken into account when deciding on the punishment. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.