These 20 conversation questions about rehabilitation are suitable for adult English learners at B2 (upper-intermediate) level. They can also be used with C1+ (advanced) students. The questions can be used in one-to-one lessons, pair or group discussions, or set as writing homework.
For more activities on this topic, see our complete Rehabilitation ESL lesson plan.
- Is the main purpose of prison to punish offenders, rehabilitate them or protect the public?
- Is it better to punish criminals or try to rehabilitate them? Does justice always have to involve punishment?
- Does rehabilitation actually work? How effective is it in your country?
- What do prisoners need to reintegrate into society?
- Are prison sentences of less than a year useful? Could there be better alternatives?
- If prisons were too comfortable, would that encourage people to commit crimes?
- What should prisoners learn in prison? Should they be able to study for university degrees? Would this help rehabilitate them?
- Should prisons provide psychological treatment and counselling to help rehabilitate offenders?
- How important is maintaining contact with family and friends for prisoners' rehabilitation?
- Should companies be allowed to use prisoners as unpaid workers? Does this help prisoners? Should they be paid? What effect does prison labour have on the wider job market?
- Don't criminals just spend all their time in prison learning new tricks on how to commit crime from their fellow inmates?
- Doesn't prison represent a great opportunity for gangs to recruit new members? How could this be solved?
- How is it possible that it is so easy to buy drugs in prisons? How does this affect rehabilitation?
- Should people who take illegal drugs be sent to prison or offered treatment? How should people who commit crimes to support a drug habit be rehabilitated?
- When should offenders be allowed to complete their rehabilitation outside prison?
- How would you convince a criminal who made good money from crime that they should take a low-paid job when they leave prison?
- Would you employ someone who had recently been released from prison? Would it depend on the crime they committed?
- Should former prisoners be allowed to have their criminal records erased after a certain number of years without reoffending?
- How should we measure whether rehabilitation has been successful? Is preventing reoffending the only thing that matters?
- Are criminals victims of society? Is crime a consequence of inequality and a system that promotes greed? Can rehabilitation succeed without changing our economic model?
