The State of Michigan should not adopt capital punishment for those convicted of first degree murder. This is because capital punishment is barbaric and it violates the 8th Amendment. Whether it's a firing squad, electric chair, gas chamber, lethal injection, or hanging, it's barbaric to allow state-approved murder before a crowd of people. “Since 1998, only Communist China and the Congo have executed more people than the United States” (State Bar 2). In 1972, in the Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia, the Court ruled that the death penalty as practiced in Georgia was a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment (Capital Punishment 1).
Most people don’t realize that carrying out the death sentence costs more than keeping a person in prison for life. One study shows that “the total cost of Indiana’s death penalty is 38% greater than the total cost of life without parole sentences” (Indiana Criminal 1). Capital punishment sends out the wrong message to people. A state is actually using murder to punish someone who committed a murder. Life in prison is a greater deterrent than capital punishment. The life of the criminal can not compensate for the crime committed. Basically, two wrongs do not make a right.
As a society, people need to move away from the “eye for an eye” revenge mentality. This mentality will now help solve anything. It leads to an endless cycle of violence. Yes, the family of the victim is forced to suffer for their loss, but with capital punishment the innocent family of the accused will also be forced to suffer. Also, the death penalty does not necessarily help the family of the murder victim: “We are family members and loved ones of murder victims…[and] every one of us agrees that…capital punishment…doesn’t work, and that our state is better off without it” (Dear Members 1). Michigan was the first state to abolish the death penalty and many others soon followed suit. Why should Michigan adopt the very...