The Trial And Death Of Socrates Essay

Socrates the Philosopher Long ago in Athens, Greece lived a man named Socrates. Socrates wasn’t just an average man though, he was very different compared to everyone else in Athens. Although while he was living many didn’t respect his ideas, after his death he later will be known as one of the greatest philosophers of all time. Since Socrates never wrote anything, there is no actual written evidence from him of his beliefs, thoughts of life and his trial, but there are pieces written by some of his best students, one being the famous Plato. Plato wrote the book “The Trial and Death of Socrates,” that I will be using in this paper. This book contains three sections of dialogue between Socrates and three other men during Socrates trial and up until his death. In this paper, I will be comparing Socrates Athenian criminal trail around 399 B.C.E. to current United States criminal trials. The criminal trial that takes place with Socrates in ancient Athens is very close in comparison to how today’s criminal trials work in the United States. Typically the first step that takes place in …show more content…
trials if you are proven guilty, you will be punished. In normal criminal trials once the judge and jury decide you are guilty, they will get together to decide your sentencing. In U.S. trials, if you are guilty you will be sentenced to a certain number of years in prison. Depending on the crime, a bail may be set for your freedom. In comparison to this, the Athenian judge and jury do decide a punishment for guilty people, but those punishments are different than the ones in the United States. Another difference with Athenian punishments is that people involved in the court can suggest the type of punishment, even the person being accused. This is different compared to the U.S. trials because not just anyone can determine the punishment. The judge and jury are the ones that have the final say in what the length of the punishments