After nearly a dozen years without an execution, Arkansas is racing to put eight men to death next month over a 10-day period, an unprecedented timetable the state says is necessary because one of the three ingredients in the lethal injection will soon expire.

If carried out, the executions beginning April 17 would make Arkansas the first state to execute that many inmates in such a short time since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976.