Are those who pass the death penalty murderers? Well, as Martin W Schwartz put in his article, murder is indeed the “Unlawful intentional killing of another human being.” That would make the death penalty a sanctioned killing of sorts.
It says in the US Constitution that we have the right against cruel and unusual punishment, which means that the euthanization, or death sentence, or whatever you want to call it to seem harmless, is lawful as long as it is not cruel and unusual in the minds of the judicial branch of govt. It is lawful as long as the person being put to death, killed someone, has been tried, and judged successfully by twelve other people. But let’s dig a little deeper..
In order for a law to be passed on the Federal level of govt we need a majority vote of both houses of Congress and the President’s signature. As long as no Federal Court intervenes, then we got ourselves a bona fide law. It is just about the same process in most states.
Now that we have that straight, it all boils down to one thing, the death penalty is still men making the INTENTIONAL decision as to whether other men should die. If a law is passed that makes it legal to rob each other, should we not defend ourselves against robbery? If the death penalty is legal then why don’t we just pass a law that allows people to kill someone as long as we get a unanimous vote from twelve uninvolved people. It is sort of like sanctioned mob law, which, as long as it is sanctioned by the state just makes it all better.
So, in conclusion, my answer to the stated question is, yes, those who pass the death penalty are murderers, too. If anything, they are the worse type. While murder is not right by any stretch of the imagination, a lot of murderers commit the act while in the heat of passion. The ones who pass and enforce the death penalty are in the most sound and serene state of mind and charged with the moral and physical well being of our society. So, these people are, at best, hypocrites to say that one man should not murder another, but it is okay for the state to sanction it.