US state with the highest execution rate revealed with ten already scheduled for 2027
Mia Williams
Featured Image Credit: Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
While the death penalty remains one of the most divisive issues in the US, the state with the highest execution rate has been revealed - and it already has ten scheduled to take place next year.
Much of the world has moved away from capital punishment, but executions very much remain a reality in numerous states across America - some more than most.
Today, 27 of the 50 US states still allow the death penalty, but that hasn't always been the case.
And while Texas is often dubbed America's execution capital, it isn't the state with the highest execution rate.
Advert
The state with the highest rate between 1976 - 2024 is actually Oklahoma, as per the Death Penalty Information Center.
During that period, the state has carried out 127 executions - equivalent to roughly three for every 100,000 residents.
In fact, all 10 executions currently scheduled for 2027 are set to take place in Oklahoma.
The fatal form of punishment was suspended between 1972 and 1976 in the US, after the Supreme Court ruled that existing laws were being applied unfairly.
But even after it was reinstated in 1976, many Americans continued to be sentenced to death for crimes they didn't commit - the most controversial being the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in 2004.
He was killed in Texas for allegedly starting a fire that resulted in the deaths of his three young daughters.
But following his execution, investigators revealed that the arson science used to convict him was fundamentally flawed, proving the fire was actually accidental.
The first execution scheduled for 2027 in Oklahoma is Keith LaMar, who has been on Ohio's death row for 30 years.
Writing for Carlmont High School's student blog, he said: "I was a drug dealer when I was 17 years old, and was robbed several times, so I started carrying a gun.
"Once, a group of guys was trying to rob me. I ended up exchanging gunfire with them, and unfortunately, sadly, took someone’s life, and was myself shot twice in the legs."
LaMar pleaded guilty to murder in 1989, but was sentenced to death in 1995 for his alleged role in the deaths of five inmates during the 1993 Southern Ohio Correctional Facility uprising.
The 11-day prison riot left 10 people dead, though LaMar has long maintained his innocence.
He claims that he was not involved in the killings, and that witness testimony used against him was unreliable.