US Executions Skyrocketed in the Past Year to Highest Level in Over a Decade and a Half.
The count of state-sanctioned killings in the United States has dramatically increased in 2025, reaching a rate not seen in since 2009. This surge is linked to a focused campaign to revive the death penalty, coupled with a significant change in the approach of the nation's highest court toward last-minute appeals.
A Grim Tally: 47 Executions in a Single Year
A total of 47 individuals—all of whom were male—were executed by individual states maintaining the death penalty this year. This figure is nearly double the total from the previous year, marking the most active period for capital punishment in the United States in 16 years.
"The evidence shows that the death penalty in 2025 is increasingly unpopular with the American people even as elected officials carry out death sentences in search of waning political benefits."
An International Exception
This pronounced rise further isolates the US from most other advanced economies, very few of which continue the practice. Currently, only a handful of Asian nations have conducted executions among peer countries.
A Public Opinion Divide
The comeback of state killings stands in stark contrast with long-term trends and current public sentiment. Over the past two decades, the use of the death penalty had been in gradual decline. At the same time, surveys indicate support for capital punishment for murder convictions has reached a half-century low, with 52% of Americans in favor. A majority of adults under the age of 55 now are against it.
Presidential Influence
On his first day back in office, the sitting President issued an executive order titled "Restoring the Death Penalty." This order aimed to guarantee that laws authorizing capital punishment were "upheld and properly enforced," marking a clear change from the prior administration.
"The tone is set, the national dialogue sent down from the top—you use violence and cruelty to solve social problems," stated a prominent activist against executions.
State-Level Frenzy
The federal push was mirrored and intensified at the state level. The state of Florida became a notable outlier, conducting 19 executions in 2025—a dramatic increase from just one the previous year. This broke the state's previous record.
Alongside Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, these four states were the source of almost three-quarters of all deaths this year. In total, a dozen states employed their execution facilities, up from nine states in 2024.
More Extreme Execution Protocols
As more executions occurred, some states adopted increasingly extreme methods. Louisiana ended a long period without executions and became the second state to employ nitrogen hypoxia as an means of execution. Observers reported the prisoner convulsed for several minutes during the process.
In another development, South Carolina performed the initial use 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, faulty targeting may have caused extended agony for the individual.
The Supreme Court's Role
The increase in death sentences carried out is also connected to the posture of the US Supreme Court. The court's conservative majority denied every request to stay an execution in 2025, a notable demonstration of judicial disengagement.
This marks a change from the court's traditional function as a final avenue for legal challenges based on claims of innocence, rights-based arguments, or allegations of cruel punishment. "The system now functions lacking a crucial backup," noted a law professor. "Federal courts are meant to act as a final check, but that stop gap has been removed."