Death Penalty

 Nowadays, some countries, such as the U.S.A., China, Iran etc., still retain the use of death penalty as the most appropriate punishment for the most notorious crimes. Although this is such an ambivalent issue, it is impossible to condone capital punishment.

To begin with, there are many reasons why this lethal punishment should be abolished. First and foremost, execution is inhumane and violates a person's basic right to life.It is also argued that if murder is wrong, then it must be wrong for the state to claim the convicted person's life, or as they say: "Two wrongs do not make a right.". Another case in point is that this is a relatively unique punishment since, in general, violent crimes are not punished by subjecting the perpetrator to a similar act. Apart from that, judicial systems are not infallible and do not always abide by the law (because of individual interests, for instance, profit). As a result, it is inevitable that innocent prisoners will be on death row.

Seen from a different perspective, although advocates of judicial penalty concede that mistakes will be made, they insist that execution is a gratifying deterrent to crime. Furthermore, a common argument is that death penalty is cheaper and more ethical than locking prisoners up for the rest of their lives, making them suffer from the atrocious crime they committed. Lastly, it gives closure to the families of the victims who have inflicted a serious amount of pain. What these arguments overlook, though, is that this "an eye for an eye" method transfers us to the debris of a primitive society, where this policy dominated.

Taking all this into consideration, there is no doubt in my mind that death penalty is a barbaric characteristic of an uncivilised society. As I see it, criminal rehabilitation is the ideal way to reduce recidivism instead of capital punishment.

The Death Penalty

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The case we talked about can be found here.

Other controversial death row cases

Vegetarianism

Nowadays, more and more people are deciding to resort to vegetarianism, which is the process of consuming the meat and flesh of any animal. There is also an extreme form of the phenomenon, which is represented by vegans who refuse to use any products derived from animals. Recent estimates, suggest that the percentage of vegetarians is constantly rising. However, vegetarianism is a double-edged sword.

To begin with, there are some serious disadvantages of turning into a vegetarian. First of all, the lack of vegetarian food and snacks in some places may lead to inconvenience and expenditure, since the hectic schedule does not easily allow vegetarians to spend time cooking for themselves. In addition, it is alleged that this particular sort of diet is unnatural on the grounds that we have the teeth to eat meat and the enzymes to digest it. That is, we need an all-inclusive diet instead of taking vitamin supplements to replace certain meat nutrients, especially in the case of veganism.

On the other hand, there are some significant advantages concerning the movement of vegetarianism. First and foremost, a balanced vegetarian diet not only includes amino acids, which exist in fruit and vegetables, and adequate quantities of B12 vitamin, but it also avoids the consumption of saturated fats. Therefore, health problems such as iron deficiency, increased levels of cholesterol and heart disease are less likely to be developed. Furthermore, the percentage of suffering from cancer is 40% lower. Last but not least, vegetarians stand up for animal rights, as they condemn irrational animal slaughter and fortunately choose not to be accomplices to this ruthless crime.

In a nutshell, there is no doubt in my mind that the disadvantages are outweighed by the advantages. Even though it is clear enough that vegetarianism is a matter of choice and beliefs, I reckon that the critically-thinking majority will reap the benefits of such a movement. Only if we at least cut down on the weekly amounts of meat we consume, will our lives be surprisingly improved.