While the execution of a Texas man was temporarily put on hold this week, more than 2,000 inmates remain on death rows across the country.

The Texas cases highlighted a recent increase in executions and questions about how capital punishment is applied in America.

Ali Rogan has more.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in the 70s and late 80s on the federal level, some

600 people have been executed in the US. This week Alabama executed Derek

Deereman responsible for killing five people in 2016.

Deereman had dropped his appeal and asked to be put to death.

This follows five executions in the US in the span of a week in September.

More executions are set to take place before the end of the year in Alabama and at least five other

states.

Maurice Schma is a staff writer for the Marshall Project, a journalism nonprofit focused on criminal justice issues.

He's been covering the death penalty for over a decade and is the author of the book, Let the

Lord sort them.

Maurice, thank you so much for joining us.

What is behind the rise in the number of executions

that are being carried out?

There's no one reason.

There's kind of a bunch of factors.

I mean, the Supreme Court is very conservative and is so less likely to stop

executions than they used to be and then you have a lot of Republican state

governors and attorneys general who see that it's kind of politically advantageous to pursue executions

especially at a time when former President Donald Trump is running for office and

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