The number of state-sanctioned killings in the United States has sharply risen in 2025, hitting a rate not seen in since 2009. This sharp uptick is attributed to a focused campaign to revive the death penalty, combined with a notable shift 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 executed by states maintaining the death penalty in 2025. This figure represents nearly double the count from 2024, constituting the most active period for executions in the United States in 16 years.
"The evidence shows that the death penalty in 2025 is increasingly unpopular with the public even as politicians schedule executions in search of waning political benefits."
A Global Outlier
This pronounced rise further separates the United States from most other advanced economies, very few of which still carry out executions. In recent years, just a handful of Asian nations have carried out capital punishment among similarly developed states.
A Public Opinion Divide
The comeback of executions clashes directly with broader patterns and current public sentiment. Over the past two decades, the use of the death penalty had been in a steady decrease. 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.
Executive Action Sets the Tone
On his first day back in office, the President issued an executive order titled "Restoring the Death Penalty." This order aimed to ensure 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 anti-death penalty advocate.
A Surge in State Executions
The federal push was mirrored and amplified at the level of individual states. Florida emerged as a notable outlier, carrying out 19 executions in 2025—a staggering 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 executions this year. Overall, 12 states actively used their execution facilities, up from nine in 2024.
More Extreme Execution Protocols
As activity increased, some states adopted increasingly extreme techniques. One state ended a long period without executions and became the second state to employ nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method. Observers reported the condemned individual convulsed for multiple minutes during the process.
Meanwhile, a different state carried out 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, faulty targeting may have caused extended agony for the condemned.
A Changed Judicial Landscape
The increase 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 reluctance to intervene.
This marks a change from the court's historical role as a last resort for legal challenges based on innocence claims, rights-based arguments, or allegations of cruel punishment. "The system now functions lacking a crucial backup," noted a law professor. "Federal courts are supposed to serve as a backstop, but that stop gap has been removed."
