American Capital Punishment Cases Skyrocketed in the Past Year to Peak in Over a Decade and a Half.
The number of state-sanctioned killings in the US has dramatically increased in 2025, reaching a level not seen in since 2009. This sharp uptick is linked to a concerted push to revive judicial killings, combined with a notable shift in the stance of the US Supreme Court toward eleventh-hour pleas.
A Grim Tally: 47 Executions in a Single Year
A total of 47 men—each one were male—were executed by states maintaining the death penalty this year. This number is nearly double the total from the previous year, constituting the most active period for executions in the country in 16 years.
"Data indicates that the death penalty in 2025 is increasingly unpopular with the public even as politicians carry out death sentences in search of waning political benefits."
A Global Outlier
This pronounced rise further isolates the United States from nearly all other advanced economies, almost none of which still carry out executions. Currently, only a handful of Asian nations have conducted capital punishment among peer countries.
A Public Opinion Divide
The resurgence of executions clashes directly with long-term trends and modern public opinion. 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 those convicted of murder has fallen to a 50-year low, with just over half of respondents in favor. A majority of citizens under the age of 55 now oppose it.
Presidential Influence
On his inauguration 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 "respected and faithfully implemented," signaling a major shift 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," remarked a prominent anti-death penalty advocate.
A Surge in State Executions
The national initiative was echoed and amplified at the level of individual states. Florida emerged as a notable extreme case, carrying out 19 executions in 2025—a dramatic increase from just one the previous year. This shattered the state's previous record.
Alongside Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, these a quartet of jurisdictions were the source of almost 75% of all executions this year. Overall, 12 states actively used their death chambers, up from nine in 2024.
More Extreme Execution Protocols
As activity increased, some states adopted more controversial 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 condemned individual convulsed for multiple minutes during the procedure.
In another development, South Carolina performed the first execution by firing squad 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 individual.
The Supreme Court's Role
The surge in executions is also linked to the position of the US Supreme Court. The court's conservative majority denied every request 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 legal challenges based on claims of innocence, rights-based arguments, or charges of excessive cruelty. "The system now functions lacking a crucial backup," commented a law professor. "Federal courts are meant to act as a backstop, but that safeguard has been removed."
