[WS:] It really depends how you look at this. If you are an anarchist or a neoliberal, then state is an abomination by definition and all that it does is unacceptable.
If you are a social democrat, as I am, or a socialist then it depends who controls the state. If capitalists or fascists - then of course giving the state the power to execute people is a dangerous proposition in theory, but also irrelevant in practice, because fascists and capitalists will use extra-judicial killings if it serves their interests and they cannot do it legally. If the state is controlled by social democrats or socialists - then the presumption is that such a state will represent the interests of the great majority of the population, which stipulates non engaging in wanton killings for political reasons. In such a state, giving the state the power to execute people (citizens or not, it matters little, as people are people regardless of their citizenship status) does not carry the same threat as giving the same power to a fascist or a capitalist state. It ultimately depends on the social consensus on the issue. In the existing social democracies death penalty has been abolished, but I would not see much danger if its citizens changed their minds at some point and reinstated it.
If you are a communist, you believe that the state will wither away after the revo, so giving or not giving it any powers is largely irrelevant. Finally, if you are a nationalist, then the power of the state to "protect itself" against any threat or disorder is an "inalienable right" to self defense, which stipulates that national security trumps rights of individual citizens, including the right to life.
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."