Three men convicted of murder in different US states are scheduled to be executed on Thursday, bringing into focus a sharp rise in capital punishment across the country. After a 16-year gap in which three people were not executed on the same day, Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, is due to die in Tennessee. Jeremy Williams, 41, is set to be executed in Alabama, and Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 71, faces execution in Oklahoma. All three are scheduled to be killed by lethal injection, though it remains unclear whether the executions will proceed without last-minute legal intervention. Planned executions and legal uncertaintyHines, who has maintained his innocence for four years and is bedridden, is due to be executed in Tennessee under the same protocol that failed 12 weeks earlier when Tony Von Carruthers was due to receive lethal injection. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee later granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve after the attempt, following witness accounts that the man showed signs of severe distress during the process. Lee said the execution was not botched and that a doctor was unable to establish intravenous access. In Alabama, Williams is expected to be the state’s first execution of 2026. He was convicted of the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in 2021. Williams has dismissed his lawyers and has volunteered to be put to death. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has said she does not plan to grant clemency. In Oklahoma, Cuesta-Rodriguez is also scheduled for Thursday’s lethal injection. He has asked for no clemency and no mercy for the murder of a woman in 2003, with experts saying his age increases the risk of a botched execution. How the death penalty use has acceleratedThe executions are taking place as the US records a steep increase in the number of people put to death. In 2025, there were 47 executions across 11 states, up from 25 in 2024. Overall, the number was more than four times higher than in 2021, even as juries and public opinion have become increasingly wary of capital punishment. A key factor is the way federal and state authorities have used their powers to move cases forward. In the federal system, President Donald Trump ended a nearly two-decade moratorium on the death penalty during his first term, ordering 13 executions over six months in 2020. That moratorium was later reinstated under President Joe Biden. On the first day of Trump’s second term in 2025, he signed an executive order re-instating the death penalty. No federal executions have been carried out since the order was signed, according to the article, but it encourages states to seek the death penalty for every federal crime in which a law enforcement officer is killed, and directs the attorney general to ensure states have sufficient drugs for lethal injections. The US Department of Justice also expanded its execution protocols, including additional methods such as firing squads, and readopted lethal injections. The department said in April that it had streamlined internal processes to speed up death penalty cases. Amnesty International USA said the full effect of these measures may not be seen for years because of the time taken by appeals after a conviction. Florida and policy changes at state levelExecutions in 2025 were heavily concentrated in Florida, which accounted for about 40% of the deaths. Just over halfway through 2026, 12 of the 19 planned executions occurred in Florida, making it a major driver of the national rise. The Death Penalty Information Center said the state’s outsize role reflects changes championed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. In 2023, Florida reduced the number of jurors required to recommend death in the trial phase from a unanimous 12 to eight. The state also made sexual battery on a minor under 12 eligible as a capital offence. Because governors can sign death warrants for prisoners with no further appeals without court oversight, Florida has been described as uniquely positioned to carry out executions. Pennsylvania has a similar process but has not executed anyone since 1999. Growing concern over executions and supportDebate in the US has also focused on how executions are carried out. Pharmaceutical companies have opposed the use of their products for the death penalty, leading to shortages of drugs for lethal injection. In 2025, South Carolina began using firing squads due to the shortage. Non-governmental monitoring groups have reported problems with execution procedures. The Death Penalty Information Center said an estimated 3% of executions from 1890 to 2010 were botched, with lethal injection having the highest rate. It also said that in 2022, more than a third of executions were botched or highly problematic. Support for the death penalty has been weakening. A Gallup poll found 52% of Americans say it is morally acceptable, the lowest level since the 1970s. At the same time, fewer death sentences are being issued: juries handed down more than 300 death sentences a year in the 1990s, but in 2025 they issued only 23. Join the discussion? 13 August 2026
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