Death penalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Death penalty - Essay Example This essay will outline the debate on death penalty and provide an in-depth explanation of the proponents and opponents of the issue and their differing attitudes. The United States is one of the few nations of the world, which still employs death penalty as a form of punishment for some crimes. The penalty is considered as barbaric and contrary to the values of humanity, as well as American values of human treatment of individuals. However, there are some people who do not object to the death penalty and consider it as a crucial tool that can be employed in the fight against some that have a huge impact on the victim. There are some instances when an innocent person may be hanged to death yet they have not committed any crime. Such mistaking of criminals has led to numerous objections of the death penalty. Since the 1950s, most of the Americans have supported death penalty. There has been, however, tremendous changes in the attitudes towards death penalty since this time with few people supporting execution of murder criminals during the 1960s and 1970s. During the mid-1990s, the debate on death penalty took a new twist with a lot of emphasis been placed on the gender and racial aspects of death penalty. The support for death penalty was low among the blacks, women, as well as Hispanics while white males supported death penalty. Numerous polls conducted in the United States have sought to get know the attitudes of American public towards death penalty. From the studies conducted, it is clear that the attitudes of people towards death penalty are guided by their emotions (Lerne and Wilmoth 234). In the United States, criminal punishment has been riddled with controversy with some people opposing it on the grounds that what motivates law enforcers is revenge as opposed to ensuring that the victims get justice. In most instances, the United States law convicts criminals to death penalties in the case of murders. People who support this point of view hold

Does ontogeny recapitulate phylogeny Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Does ontogeny recapitulate phylogeny - Assignment Example Ontogeny is the scientific belief pertaining to the development of embryos. The idea behind it is that scientists can trace the evolutionary history of organisms through its ancestral characteristics. The belief is that ancestral characters of organisms will more likely than not, be preserved in an organisms development. The idea is better visualized in the following manner; â€Å"both chick and human embryos go through a stage where they have slits and arches in their necks that are identical to the gill slits and gill arches of fish. This observation supports the idea that chicks and humans share a common ancestor with fish. Thus, developmental characters, along with other lines of evidence, can be used for constructing phylogenies.† (â€Å"Ontology and Phylogeny†, n.d.) On the other hand, Phylogeny is defined by scientists as â€Å"the history of the evolution of a species or group, especially in reference to lines of descent and relationships among broad groups of organisms. â€Å" (â€Å"phylogeny†, n.d.) Phylogeny is basically reliant on the theory that plants or animals all descend from common ancestors. However, due to the lack of scientific basis for this theory to be proven as true, since most of the ancestors of life on the planet are already extinct and the fossils on record are few and far between, this theory is based solely on direct evidence. Having now defined what Ontogeny and Phylogeny are in relation to the evolution of man, we may now coherently discuss as to whether Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny. Most scientists do not agree with the ORP theory and reject the thought based upon the embryological evidence for evolution. Basically, if we look at a man and a chick, we will see that both fetuses have gills and slits in the neck. Therefore, both species stemmed from a fish-like existence. However, the animal and the man never turned into fishes before turning into men and chicks. In the case of man, we evolved past that into the