Some people believe that children that commit crimes should be punished. Others think the parents should be punished instead. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Sample Response
Some today are calling for parents to be held responsible for crimes committed by their children. In my opinion, there are exceptions but many cases merit harsher penalties for parentsgreater punishment for parents.
Those arguing against this proposalreform point out that parents are not always culpable. There are numerous instances of loving parents who raise their childrenchild well but social problems can still emerge at a young agesocial problems still manifest from a young age. This is often the case if the child suffers from a mental illness such as schizophrenia or a dissociative disorder. These conditions may stem from genetic factorssimple genetics, in which case parents should not be punished, or from trauma of which their primary caregivers are unawaretrauma the primary caregivers are unaware of. For example, if the child has been abusedif they have been abused at school or by a relative then it follows logically the offender, rather than an innocent party,the offending, rather than innocent, party should be brought to justice.
Despite the important exceptions described above that courts must considerexceptions above that courts must sort through, parental abuse and neglect should be punishable. Studies have shown that most young children who commit crimes have been abused in some way by their parents. Serial killers are an extreme but useful case in point. Nearly every serial killer exhibitsbegins antisocial behaviour from a young age, including the criminal torture of animals. There are also no known examples of serial killers coming from happy homes; they are all the product of varying degrees of abuse from their parents. This is clear evidence that parents play the pivotal role in molding the psyche of young children. As children grow up and have more influences this may change but for young children, parents are chiefly responsible and courts should recognise this fact.
In conclusion, there are some cases where parents may not be at fault for criminal acts by children but in most situations they are the driving force. Trying parents for their child’s crime and seeking treatment for the children would therefore be a modern, progressive, and positive reform.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response is fluent, logically organised, and supported by a sustained argument about parental responsibility, with sophisticated vocabulary and largely controlled complex sentences. Its central weakness is incomplete coverage of the first stated view: it explains why some parents are innocent but does not directly examine why offending children should themselves be punished. Developing that missing perspective explicitly would make the discussion fully responsive to the task.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The position on parental responsibility is clear and well developed, but the case for punishing children is addressed only indirectly.
Devote a distinct part of the discussion to reasons for holding young offenders personally accountable before weighing that view against parental culpability.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay has a clear overall progression, focused paragraphs, and well-managed links between qualifications, examples, and conclusions.
Signal the first opposing view more explicitly so the organisational structure maps directly onto the two positions in the question.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and often precise, although a few combinations such as "begins antisocial behaviour" are awkward and some claims are overstated.
Use more measured wording for generalisations and check verb-noun collocations when presenting psychological or legal claims.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied complex structures with strong control, despite occasional punctuation and reference issues in longer sentences.
Add needed clause punctuation and check pronoun references so that every complex sentence remains immediately unambiguous.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people believe that children that commit crimes should be punished. Others think the parents should be punished instead. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.