US Capital Punishment Cases Skyrocketed in the Past Year to Highest Level in Over a Decade and a Half.
The number of state-sanctioned killings in the US has dramatically increased in 2025, hitting a level not seen in 16 years. This surge is linked to a focused campaign to reinvigorate the death penalty, combined with a significant change in the approach of the nation's highest court toward eleventh-hour pleas.
A Grim Tally: 47 Executions in a Single Year
A total of 47 individuals—all of whom were male—were executed by states maintaining the death penalty in 2025. This figure is nearly double the count from 2024, constituting the highest annual total for capital punishment in the country in 16 years.
"The evidence shows that the death penalty in 2025 is increasingly unpopular with the public even as elected officials carry out death sentences in search of waning political benefits."
A Global Outlier
This pronounced rise further separates the US from nearly all other advanced economies, very few of which continue the practice. In recent years, just a handful of Asian nations have conducted capital punishment among similarly developed states.
Contradictory Trends
The comeback of state killings clashes directly with long-term trends and current public sentiment. Over the past two decades, the use of the death penalty had been in gradual decline. Meanwhile, polling indicate approval of capital punishment for those convicted of murder has reached a half-century low, with just over half of Americans in favor. Most of adults under the age of 55 now oppose it.
Executive Action Sets the Tone
On his inauguration day back in office, the sitting President issued an executive order titled "Reinstating Capital Punishment." This order sought 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 activist against executions.
State-Level Frenzy
The federal push was echoed and amplified at the level of individual states. Florida became a particular outlier, carrying out 19 executions in 2025—a staggering increase from just one the year before. This shattered the state's prior annual record.
Together with several other southern states, these four states were the source of almost 75% of all executions this year. Overall, 12 states actively used their execution facilities, up from nine states in 2024.
More Extreme Execution Protocols
As more executions occurred, some states turned to increasingly extreme techniques. Louisiana concluded a long period without executions and followed another state's lead to employ nitrogen hypoxia as an means of execution. Witnesses reported the prisoner visibly shook for multiple minutes during the procedure.
In another development, South Carolina 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 an instance, imprecise aim may have caused extended agony for the condemned.
A Changed Judicial Landscape
The surge in executions is also connected to the posture of the US Supreme Court. The court's conservative majority rejected all applications to stay an execution in 2025, a rare display of reluctance to intervene.
This represents a shift from the court's traditional function as a last resort for appeals based on innocence claims, rights-based arguments, or allegations of cruel punishment. "The system now functions lacking a crucial backup," commented a legal scholar. "Federal courts are supposed to serve as a backstop, but that stop gap has been removed."
