Three men will be executed the same day as US sees steep rise in death penalty - BBC News

Despite growing opposition to the death penalty, one state is behind the rising numbers.

Image source, AP/Alabama Department of CorrectionsImage caption, L-R: Anthony Darrell Hines, Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez and Jeremy Williams are all set to be put to death on the same day

It's been 16 years since three people were executed on the same day in the US, but later on Thursday, three men convicted of murder in different US states will all face the death penalty.

The planned executions of inmates Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, Jeremy Williams, 41, and Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 71, in Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma, respectively, are indicative of a steep rise in executions across the US.

Last year, in 2025, there were more than four times as many people put to death as there were in 2021, even as juries, and the American public at large, became increasingly wary of its use.

So what's driving the increase and are the US public in step with the trend?