Death row inmates in five states have been put to death in the span of one week. This was the first time in more than 20 years that five executions had been held in seven days.The unusually high number defies a yearslong trend of decline in both the use and support of the death penalty in the U.S. The fourth execution occurred Thursday in Oklahoma and a fifth took place later Thursday in Alabama. With the execution in Alabama, the U.S. has reached 1,600 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.