3 states are set to hold executions on the same day, a first in the U.S. since 2010

A small number of states, including Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma, drive execution numbers in the U.S.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma plan to execute inmates Thursday in what would be the first time in nearly 16 years that three people are put to death on the same day in the United States.

The executions come as a small number of states, including the three with scheduled lethal injections Thursday, drive execution numbers in the United States.

“You look at the country as a whole, you’ve just got this little pocket of five or six states that are using the death penalty, executing people, and a small number of states that are still imposing new death sentences,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Maher said it is highly unusual to have three executions on one day, although it is largely a scheduling coincidence.

Eleven states executed a total of 47 people in 2025, the highest number since 2009. Florida accounted for most of the surge with 19 executions. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas each carried out five. Tennessee carried out three. Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arizona and Indiana each carried out two. Louisiana and Missouri each carried out one execution.