RS exam question

In support:
- Depends on definition of murder, could consider the taking of another persons life as the definition of murder, in which case, capital punishment is murder
- (counter to the 1st against) The reasoning or intention behind killing another person doesn't matter, murder is murder, it can never be justified even if is within the law. If one can accept this, it follows that capital punishment, by definition, is a form of murder
- (counter 2nd against) Those convicted of manslaughter ARE also 'murderers', if one accepts this then capital punishment is also a form of murder

Against:
- (counter 1st support) If the definition of murder is that it is unlawful and unjustified, capital punishment is within the law, it is considered to be a justified punishment and therefore cannot be classified as murder
- (counter 2nd support) If reasoning and intention does not matter, then by the same logic, those convicted of manslaughter are also 'murderers', even if they killed to defend themselves
- (counter 3rd support) It seems to go against our intuition to put capital punishment, murder and manslaughter all into the same category, which is why capital punishment cannot be considered murder

Hope this helps, that is a tricky one! Very easy to lose sight of the question and start debating for and against capital punishment when the question isn't actually asking that! I personally think it is murder, but I hope I've given you enough there to make your own argument