This new CNN article, headlined “4 executions are scheduled in 4 states over four days this week. Here’s what we know,” highlights both upcoming executions and broader capital punishment trendis in the United States this year. Here are excerpts:
Over the next four days, four inmates in four states are scheduled to be put to death – a cluster that, while not abnormal, comes amid a national uptick in executions as President Donald Trump calls for the death penalty’s expansion.
The executions are slated to begin Tuesday, when Alabama is scheduled to put Gregory Hunt to death for the murder of Karen Lane. On the same day, Florida plans to execute Anthony Wainwright for the murder of Carmen Gayheart. On Thursday, Oklahoma says it will execute John Hanson for the murder of Mary Agnes Bowles. And a day later, Stephen Stanko is scheduled to be put to death in South Carolina for the murder of Henry Lee Turner….
[E]xecutions are up in the first half of 2025 compared to recent years. In addition to this week’s, two more are scheduled later in June. If all six proceed as planned, it would mark 25 executions this year to date, matching the total number of executions carried out in 2024, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center. That would be the highest number of executions carried out through June since 2011….
States are acting independently. But their moves come as Trump has signaled a desire to see capital punishment used more often at the federal level, saying he wants to deter criminals and protect the American people. While his day one executive order, “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” does not apply to the states, experts said the message it sends could encourage state officials who want to align themselves with the president.
“If a state is inclined to conduct executions anyway, Trump’s rhetoric would be the wind behind them pushing them to do that,” said Corinna Lain, a University of Richmond law professor and author of “Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection.”