American Executions Surged in the Past Year to Peak in 16 Years.
The number of executions in the United States has sharply risen in 2025, hitting a rate not seen in since 2009. This sharp uptick is linked to a focused campaign to revive the death penalty, combined with a significant change in the approach of the US Supreme Court toward eleventh-hour pleas.
A Sobering Count: Nearly 50 Deaths in a Single Year
Exactly 47 individuals—each one were male—were executed by states that utilize the death penalty in 2025. This figure is nearly double the total from 2024, marking the most active period for executions in the United States in 16 years.
"Data indicates that the death penalty in 2025 is increasingly unpopular with the American people even as politicians schedule executions in search of diminishing political benefits."
A Global Outlier
This sharp increase further separates the US from most other advanced economies, very few of which still carry out executions. Currently, only Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan have carried out capital punishment among peer countries.
A Public Opinion Divide
The comeback of executions stands in stark contrast with broader patterns and current public sentiment. For years, the use of the death penalty had been in gradual decline. At the same time, surveys indicate approval of capital punishment for murder convictions has reached a half-century low, with 52% of Americans in favor. Most of citizens under the age of 55 now are against it.
Executive Action Sets the Tone
On his inauguration day back in office, the President issued an executive order titled "Restoring the Death Penalty." This order sought to ensure that statutes permitting capital punishment were "upheld and properly enforced," marking a clear change from the prior administration.
"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 activist against executions.
A Surge in State Executions
The federal push was echoed and amplified at the state level. The state of Florida emerged as a particular outlier, conducting 19 executions in 2025—a dramatic increase from just one the year before. This shattered the state's prior annual record.
Alongside Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, these four states were the source of almost 75% of all executions this year. Overall, 12 states employed their death chambers, up from nine states in 2024.
More Extreme Execution Protocols
As more executions occurred, some states adopted increasingly extreme methods. One state ended a long period without executions and became the second state to employ nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method. Observers reported the prisoner convulsed for several minutes during the procedure.
Meanwhile, South Carolina carried out the initial use by a squad of shooters in the US since 2010, deploying this approach for three of its five executions this year. Accounts suggested that in one case, faulty targeting may have caused extended agony for the condemned.
A Changed Judicial Landscape
The increase in death sentences carried out is also connected to the posture of the US Supreme Court. The majority-conservative bench denied every request to stay an execution in 2025, a rare display of judicial disengagement.
This represents a shift from the court's historical role as a last resort for legal challenges based on claims of innocence, rights-based arguments, or charges of excessive cruelty. "The system now functions lacking a crucial backup," noted a legal scholar. "Federal courts are meant to act as a backstop, but that safeguard has been removed."
