US Executions Surged 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, reaching a rate not seen in 16 years. This surge is linked to a focused campaign to reinvigorate the death penalty, combined with a notable shift in the stance of the US Supreme Court toward eleventh-hour pleas.

A Sobering Count: 47 Executions in a Single Year

Exactly 47 individuals—all of whom were male—were put to death by states that utilize the death penalty in 2025. This number is nearly double the total from the previous year, marking the highest annual total for executions 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 sharp increase further separates the US from nearly all other developed nations, almost none of which still carry out executions. Currently, only a handful of Asian nations have conducted executions among similarly developed states.

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. Meanwhile, surveys indicate approval of capital punishment for murder convictions has fallen to a 50-year low, with 52% of Americans in favor. A majority of adults under the age of 55 now oppose it.

Executive Action Sets the Tone

On his inauguration day back in office, the 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—you use violence and cruelty to solve social problems," stated a well-known anti-death penalty advocate.

State-Level Frenzy

The national initiative was mirrored and intensified at the state level. The state of Florida emerged as a particular extreme case, carrying out 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 a quartet of jurisdictions were responsible for almost 75% of all executions this year. Overall, a dozen states employed their execution facilities, up from nine states in 2024.

Evolving Methods

As activity increased, some states turned to increasingly extreme methods. One state concluded a long period without executions and became the second state to employ nitrogen hypoxia as an means of execution. Observers reported the condemned individual convulsed for several minutes during the procedure.

Meanwhile, 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 an instance, imprecise aim may have caused extended agony for the condemned.

A Changed Judicial Landscape

The increase in death sentences carried out is also linked to the posture of the nation's highest 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 historical role as a final avenue for legal challenges based on claims of innocence, constitutional arguments, or charges of excessive cruelty. "The system now functions lacking a crucial backup," commented a legal scholar. "Federal courts are meant to act as a backstop, but that safeguard has been removed."