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Michigan Define Murder in the First Degree and Require Death Penalty by Electrocution Referendum (April 1931)
| Michigan Death Penalty Referendum | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Criminal sentencing and Criminal trials |
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| Status |
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| Type Veto referendum |
Origin |
Michigan Death Penalty Referendum was on the ballot as a veto referendum in Michigan on April 6, 1931. It was defeated.
A “yes” vote supported defining murder in the first degree and establishing the death penalty as the penalty for such crime. |
A “no” vote opposed defining murder in the first degree and establishing the death penalty as the penalty for such crime. |
Election results
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Michigan Death Penalty Referendum |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 269,538 | 43.32% | ||
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352,594 | 56.68% | ||
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- Results are officially certified.
- Source
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Death Penalty Referendum was as follows:
| “ | REFERENDUM ON ACT NUMBER 2 (SENATE ENROLLED ACT NUMBER 2) OF THE PUBLIC ACTS OF 1931, DEFINING THE CRIME OF MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE, AND PROVIDING THAT THE PENALTY THEREFOR SHALL BE DEATH BY ELECTROCUTION. An act to define the crime of murder in the first degree; to prescribe the penalty therefor; to provide for an appeal and procedure thereon; to prescribe the necessary regulations to be observed in the penalty imposed; to provide for a referendum thereof; and to repeal section one of Chapter one hundred fifty-three of the Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred forty-six, being section sixteen thousand seven hundred eight of the Compiled Laws of nineteen hundred twenty-nine. The People of the State of Michigan enact: Section 1. All murder which shall be perpetrated by means of poison, lying in wait, or any other kind of wilful, deliberate and premeditated killing, or which shall be committed in the perpetration, or attempt to perpetrate any arson, rape, robbery, burglary, or kidnapping for ransom, or which shall be committed in escaping or attempting to escape from any penal institution of this state, or while being transported to or from such institution, shall be deemed murder in the first degree, and shall be punished by death; Provided, that no person under the age of seventeen years, at the time of the commission of the crime, shall be sentenced to death, but in case of conviction of such person of murder in the first degree, he shall be imprisoned in the State's prison at hard labor for the remainder of his life. Section 2. If the accused shall plead guilty to an information charging murder in the first degree, the court shall proceed to take sufficient evidence and determine therefrom the degree of the crime which the accused has committed and shall pass sentence accordingly. The court shall also at the same time take evidence of the manner of arrest and as to whether the accused has been placed under duress or fear. Section 3. Punishment by death shall be inflicted by electrocution. The electrocution shall take place within the walls of the Michigan State Prison at Jackson. Such electrocution shall be by the warden of the Michigan State Prison or by some person deputized by him. It shall be the duty of the warden and the prison commission of the State of Michigan to provide the necessary room and appliances to carry out the execution of sentences to death by electrocution as provided in this act. Section 4. Whenever any parson shall have been brought before the court on a charge of murder in the first degree and shall be found to be financially unable to procure counsel, the court shall, before requiring the accused to plead to the information, appoint a competent attorney to represent said accused person at the arraignment, hearing, trial, and in the appeal. The attorney so appointed shall be entitled to receive from the county treasurer on the certificate of the judge that such services have been duly rendered, such an amount as the judge shall, in his discretion, deem reasonable compensation for the services performed. All necessary cost and expenses of the hearing, trial and appeal in such cases shall be paid by the county upon the certification of the judge. Section 5. In all cases where judgment of conviction of murder in the first degree, either upon a plea of guilty or after trail has been entered, the complete record of all proceedings, evidence and charge of the court in such cause shall be submitted to the supreme court for review upon the law and the facts, under such procedure as the supreme court shall designate. The supreme court shall, upon the record so submitted, affirm the conviction or reverse the conviction, and grant a new trial. Section 5-a. Whenever any person shall be convicted of murder in the first degree and sentence to death, the judge of the court in which such conviction was had and such sentence was pronounced shall forthwith issue his warrant under the seal of the court, reciting the conviction and sentence and that said conviction is pending in the supreme court under the provisions of section five of this act, directed to the sheriff of said county, commanding him to transport the person therein named to the Michigan State Prison at Jackson and there deliver such convicted person and aforesaid warrant into the custody of the warden of said prison and shall take from the said warden his receipt for such convicted person, which receipt the said sheriff shall return to the office of the clerk of the court where the conviction was had and such sentence was pronounced, together with their return thereon, which receipt and return shall be filed in the office of said clerk and become a part of the records thereof. Section 6. Whenever any person shall be convicted of murder in the first degree and sentence to death and his conviction has been affirmed, a judge of the court in which such conviction was had and such sentence was pronounced, shall, after the expiration of two weeks from the date of said affirmance, issue his warrant under the seal of the court, reciting the conviction and sentence and affirmance thereof of the person therein named, and directed to the warden of the Michigan State Prison, commanding him to proceed at the time and place named in said sentence, which time shall not be less than sixty or more than ninety days from the date thereof, to execute the sentence of death by electrocution, as provided in this act. Section 7. Immediately upon the issuance of such warrant, the clerk of the court shall, by registered mail, forward the aforesaid warrant to the warden of said prison, who shall upon receipt of said warrant, make return to the clerk of the county where the judgment of death was rendered, showing receipt of said warrant by said warden, which return shall be filed in the office of said clerk and become a part of the records thereof. Section 8. Upon the receipt of such condemned person by the warden of the Michigan State Prison, said condemned person shall be confined therein until the time for his execution arrives or until reversal of the conviction by the supreme court, and while so confined all persona except the necessary prison officials and attendants shall be denied access to him, except his physicians, who may be admitted to see him when, in the judgment of the warden, medical attendance may be necessary for the physical well-being of the said condemned person, and with the further exception that lawyers, relatives, friends and spiritual advisers of the condemned person may be admitted to see and converse with him at all proper times and under such reasonable regulations as may be perscribed by the board of control and warden of the prison. Section 9. The following persons may be present at the execution of said condemned person and none other: The warden and such persons as may be necessary to assist him in conducting the execution; members of the board of control of said prison; two physicians, including the prison physician; the spiritual adviser of the condemned; the chaplain of the prison; not to exceed ten members of the press to be selected by the warden; and such of the relatives and friends of the condemned person, not exceeding ten in number, as he may request to be admitted, in the discretion of the warden. Section 10. If the condemned person shall escape after sentence and before his delivery to the warden as herein provided, and be not rearrested and returned before the time fixed in section five-a for his transportation to the State Prison, then any person may arrest him and return him to the jail of the county in which he was convicted and sentenced and thereupon a judge of the court of such county having jurisdiction, on notice of said arrest and return being given by the sheriff, shall again fix a time for the execution of said sentence as provided in section six hereof and shall forthwith issue a warrant of commitment and direct the transportation of said condemned person to the Michigan State Prison at Jackson as hereinbefore provided. Section 11. If the condemned person shall escape after his delivery to the custody of the warden of the Michigan State Prison and be not retaken and returned before the time appointed for his execution; any person may arrest and return him to the Michigan State Prison, whereupon the warden shall certify the fact of his escape and recapture to the court in which he was convicted and sentenced, and a judge of said court shall again fix a time for the execution of said condemned person as provided in section six hereof and thereupon the clerk of said court shall forthwith certify the fixing of said time for such execution to the warden as hereinbefore provided, who shall proceed at the time so fixed to execute the condemned person as hereinbefore provided. Section 12. When the execution of sentence as herein provided is suspended, stayed or respited to a subsequent time, the fact of said suspension, stay or respite shall be noted on the warrant and on the arrival of the time to which execution of said sentence was suspended, stayed or respited the warden shall proceed with the execution of such sentence as herein provided. In the event of the pardon of the condemned person or the commutation of his sentence by the Governor, no execution shall be had. In all cases, when the sentence to death has been executed, the warden shall return the warrant of commitment herein required to the clerk of the county in which said conviction was had and sentence was pronounced with a full statement of all his acts and doings thereunder, endorsed thereon, which said warrant and return shall be filed by said clerk and become and remain a part of the records of said court and cause. In the event that any condemned person shall die, be pardoned, or his sentence commuted before the time fixed for his execution, the warden shall make report of that fact on the warrant of commitment as herein provided. Such report of death shall be accompanied by a death certificate signed by two physicians including the prison physician. Section 13. If a woman who has been sentenced to death as herein provided appears to be pregnant, and the physician of the prison shall certify in writing to the warden that in his opinion such woman is pregnant, the warden shall forthwith give notice of such fact to the judge of the court in which the conviction and sentence was had and made and also shall deliver a copy of such certificate of such physician to said judge. Such judge shall thereupon appoint a time at which an inquiry into the fact of such alleged pregnancy shall be made at said prison, and shall forthwith summon three disinterested legally qualified physicians of the State of Michigan to make examination and inquiry concerning the facts of said alleged pregnancy. Notice thereof shall be given to the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the judgment or conviction was rendered stating the time and place of such inquiry. The report of said physicians shall be in writing and under oath, and shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the court in which said judgment of conviction was rendered, and a duly certified copy thereof, under the seal of the court, shall be forthwith transmitted to the warden of the Michigan State Prison, and the fees and expenses of said physicians and expenses of the prosecuting attorney shall, when approved by the circuit judge pronouncing such sentence, be paid from the general fund of the county in which the condemned person was convicted. Section 14. If it appears by the report of said physicians that such woman is pregnant, a judge of the court in which such conviction was had and such sentence pronounced shall suspend the execution of said sentence and shall transmit a copy of the report of said physicians and his order of suspension duly certified by the clerk, under the seal of the court, to the Governor and the warden of the Michigan State Prison. After said woman is delivered of child, or after the Governor from a report of three disinterested legally qualified physicians of the State of Michigan becomes satisfied that she is no longer pregnant, he shall forthwith issue a warrant appointing a time for her execution, and such execution shall take place at the time and in the manner provided by this act. Section 15. Immediately after the execution, the body of the convict shall be examined by two physicians to be designated by the warden, one of whom shall be the prison physician, and said physicians shall make and execute a death certificate under their hand, which shall be attached to the return of the execution by the warden as provided in section twelve of this act. Section 16. Section one of Chapter one hundred fifty-three of the Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred forty-six, being section sixteen thousand seven hundred eight of the Compiled Laws of nineteen hundred twenty-nine, is hereby repealed; Provided, however, that all proceeding pending and all rights and liabilities existing, acquired or incurred, at the time this act takes effect, are hereby saved, and such proceedings may be consummated under and according to the law in force at the time such proceedings are or were commenced. It is the legislative intent that this act shall not be construed to alter, affect or abate any pending prosecution, or prevent prosecution hereafter instituted under said section sixteen thousand seven hundred eight, Compiled Laws of nineteen hundred twenty-nine, for offenses committed prior to the effective date of this act; and all prosecutions pending at the effective date of this act, and all prosecutions instituted after the effective date of this act for offenses committed prior to the effective date of this act may be continued or instituted under and in accordance with the provisions of said section sixteen thousand seven hundred eight of the Compiled Laws of nineteen hundred twenty-nine. Section 17. The provisions of act number one hundred seventy-five of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred twenty-seven, being sections seventeen thousand one hundred sixteen to seventeen thousand five hundred twelve, inclusive, of the Compiled Laws of nineteen hundred twenty-nine, insofar as the same are consistent with the provisions of this act, shall govern causes involving first degree murder. Section 18. This act shall be known as and may be cited as "The Capital Punishment Act." Section 19. At the next April election to be held in this state, there shall be submitted to the electors thereof the question of the adoption of this act. All votes on the question shall be taken, counted and canvassed in the same manner as votes cast for the submission of proposed amendments to the State Constitution are taken, counted and canvassed. The vote upon the proposition of adopting this act shall be by ballot which shall be in substantially the following form: "Vote upon adopting Public Act No. 2, passed by the Legislature at a regular session of nineteen hundred thirty-one, known as "The Capital Punishment Act." Make a cross in the appropriate square. To adopt said Act No. 2. Yes To adopt said Act No. 2. No | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
A veto referendum is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that asks voters whether to uphold or repeal an enacted law. This type of ballot measure is also called statute referendum, popular referendum, people's veto, or citizen's veto. There are 23 states that allow citizens to initiate veto referendums.
In Michigan, the number of signatures required for a veto referendum is equal to 5% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. Signatures for veto referendums are due 90 days following the final adjournment of the legislative session at which the targeted bill was passed. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval.
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