The Culpability of the Executioner

The executioner acts as an agent of the state. If the state acts justly in regard to the condemned person, there is no sin involved for the person employed by the state to carry out the execution. If the state acts unjustly toward a condemned person (e.g., the means of execution are cruel or unusual or the state does not have just cause in a particular case to condemn the person to death), then the executioner, as an agent of the state, is culpable for his part in the execution to the extent that he understands that an injustice is being committed and deliberately chooses to take part in perpetuating that injustice.