Five States Plan Unprecedented Executions This Week

In a rare and unusually high spate of executions, five states—Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas—are scheduled to execute death row inmates within a single week, marking the first such occurrence since 2003. The series began with South Carolina executing Freddie Owens on Friday and will continue with double executions in Texas and Missouri on Tuesday, followed by Alabama and Oklahoma on Thursday. Notably, Alabama plans to use nitrogen gas for Alan Eugene Miller's execution, a controversial method only previously used once. This spree highlights ongoing debates and criticisms about the death penalty in the United States, with 21 states still practicing it. If all scheduled executions proceed, the U.S. will surpass 1,600 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Experts attribute the scheduling to coincidences and backlogs in the judicial system.