WOULD SOCRATES BE SENTENCED TO DEATH PENALTY TODAY?

Abstract

Socrates  was a classical Greek philosopher . Though he made no writings, he was well known as one of the wisest  men of his time . Socrates was always questioning other people’s behaviour and thoughts. He especially questioned the collective notion of "might makes right" that he felt was common in Greece during this period.

Socrates's paradoxical wisdom made the prominent Athenians he publicly questioned look foolish, turning them against him and leading to accusations of wrongdoing. Socrates defended his role as a gadfly as Plato named him,  until the end: at his trial, when Socrates was asked to propose his own punishment, he suggested a wage paid by the government and free dinners for the rest of his life instead, to finance the time he spent as Athens's benefactor.

In 399 BC, Socrates went on trial and was found guilty of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and for  "not believing in the gods of the state", even for creating new gods. He was sentenced to death, caused by the drinking of a mixture containing poison hemlock.

But ,would he be sentenced to death  according to today’s law?