Capital punishment in Michigan

Capital punishment in Michigan was legal from the founding of Sault Ste Marie in 1668 during the French colonial period, until abolition by the state legislature in 1846 (except nominally for treason). Michigan is one of three U.S. states (along with Alaska and Hawaii) never to have executed anyone following admission into the Union. The federal government, however, outside Michigan's jurisdiction, carried out one federal execution at FCI Milan in 1938.

Michigan's death penalty history is unusual, as Michigan was the first Anglophone jurisdiction in the world to abolish the death penalty for ordinary crimes.^[1]^[2] The Michigan State Legislature voted to do so on May 18, 1846, and that has remained the law ever since.^[3] Although the death penalty was formally retained as a punishment for treason until 1963, no person was ever tried for treason against Michigan. Thus, Michigan has not executed any person since before statehood.

^ Tirschwell, Eric A. and Theodore Hertzberg (both of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP). "Politics and Prosecutions: A Historical Perspective on Shifting Federal Standards for Pursuing the Death Penalty in non-Death Penalty States." Journal of Constitutional Law. October 2009. Volume 12 Issue 1. pp. 57–98. CITED: p. 61.
^ "History of the Death Penalty – Faith in Action – Working to Abolish the Death Penalty". Archived from the original on 2010-03-06. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
^ See Caitlin pp. 420–422

[1] Tirschwell, Eric A. and Theodore Hertzberg (both of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP). "Politics and Prosecutions: A Historical Perspective on Shifting Federal Standards for Pursuing the Death Penalty in non-Death Penalty States." Journal of Constitutional Law. October 2009. Volume 12 Issue 1. pp. 57–98. CITED: p. 61.

[2] "History of the Death Penalty – Faith in Action – Working to Abolish the Death Penalty". Archived from the original on 2010-03-06. Retrieved 2007-09-08.

[3] See Caitlin pp. 420–422

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