US Executions Skyrocketed in the Past Year to Highest Level in 16 Years.
The count of executions in the United States has sharply risen in 2025, reaching a level not seen in since 2009. This surge is attributed to a focused campaign to revive the death penalty, coupled with a significant change in the stance of the US Supreme Court toward eleventh-hour pleas.
A Sobering Count: Nearly 50 Deaths in a Single Year
Exactly 47 individuals—all of whom were male—were put to death by individual states maintaining the death penalty this year. This figure is nearly twice the count from the previous year, constituting the highest annual total for executions in the United States in 16 years.
"Data indicates that the death penalty in 2025 is growing less popular with the public even as elected officials carry out death sentences in search of waning political benefits."
A Global Outlier
This pronounced rise further isolates the US from most other advanced economies, almost none of which still carry out executions. Currently, only a handful of Asian nations have carried out capital punishment among similarly developed states.
Contradictory Trends
The resurgence of executions stands in stark contrast with broader patterns and current public sentiment. Over the past two decades, the use of the death penalty had been in gradual decline. Meanwhile, surveys indicate approval of capital punishment for murder convictions has fallen to a 50-year low, with just over half of respondents in favor. A majority of citizens under the age of 55 now oppose it.
Presidential Influence
On his inauguration day back in office, the sitting President issued an presidential directive titled "Restoring the Death Penalty." This order aimed to ensure that laws authorizing capital punishment were "respected and faithfully implemented," marking a clear change from the previous presidency.
"It’s in the air, it’s in the national rhetoric sent down from the top—the idea is to use harsh measures to solve social problems," remarked a prominent anti-death penalty advocate.
A Surge in State Executions
The federal push was mirrored and intensified at the level of individual states. The state of Florida became a notable extreme case, carrying out 19 executions in 2025—a dramatic increase from just one the previous year. This shattered the state's prior annual record.
Alongside Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, these a quartet of jurisdictions were the source of almost three-quarters of all deaths this year. Overall, 12 states employed their execution facilities, up from nine states in 2024.
Evolving Methods
As activity increased, some states turned to more controversial techniques. One state concluded a 15-year hiatus and became the second state to employ nitrogen gas as an execution method. Observers reported the condemned individual convulsed for several minutes during the process.
In another development, a different state performed the first execution by a squad of shooters in the US since 2010, using this method for three of its five executions this year. Accounts suggested that in one case, imprecise aim may have caused extended agony for the condemned.
The Supreme Court's Role
The surge in executions is also linked to the position of the nation's highest court. The majority-conservative bench denied every request to stay an execution in 2025, a rare display of judicial disengagement.
This marks a change from the court's traditional function as a last resort for appeals based on innocence claims, constitutional arguments, or allegations of cruel punishment. "The system now functions without a safety net," commented a legal scholar. "Federal courts are meant to act as a final check, but that stop gap has been removed."