US Executions Skyrocketed in 2025 to Highest Level in 16 Years.

The count of executions in the US has sharply risen in 2025, hitting a rate not seen in 16 years. This sharp uptick is linked to a focused campaign to revive judicial killings, 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—each one were male—were put to death by individual states that utilize the death penalty this year. This number is nearly double the total from the previous year, constituting the most active period for capital punishment in the country since 2009.

"Data indicates that the death penalty in 2025 is growing less popular with the public even as politicians schedule executions in search of diminishing political benefits."

A Global Outlier

This sharp increase further isolates the United States from nearly all other advanced economies, very few of which still carry out executions. In recent years, only a handful of Asian nations have carried out capital punishment among peer countries.

A Public Opinion Divide

The comeback of executions stands in stark contrast with long-term trends and current public sentiment. For years, the use of the death penalty had been in gradual decline. At the same time, surveys indicate support for capital punishment for murder convictions has reached a half-century low, with just over half of Americans in favor. Most of citizens under the age of 55 now are against it.

Presidential Influence

On his inauguration day back in office, the President issued an executive order titled "Restoring the Death Penalty." This order sought to ensure that laws authorizing capital punishment were "upheld and properly enforced," 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 prominent activist against executions.

A Surge in State Executions

The national initiative was echoed and intensified at the level of individual states. Florida emerged as a notable extreme case, conducting 19 executions in 2025—a staggering increase from just one the previous year. This broke the state's previous record.

Together with several other southern states, these a quartet of jurisdictions were the source of almost 75% of all deaths this year. Overall, a dozen states employed their execution facilities, up from nine states in 2024.

More Extreme Execution Protocols

As more executions occurred, some states turned to increasingly extreme methods. Louisiana ended a 15-year hiatus and followed another state's lead to use nitrogen gas as an execution method. Observers reported the condemned individual visibly shook for several minutes during the procedure.

In another development, South Carolina performed the initial use by firing squad in the US since 2010, deploying this approach for three of its total executions this year. Accounts suggested that in one case, imprecise aim may have prolonged suffering for the individual.

A Changed Judicial Landscape

The increase in death sentences carried out is also connected to the posture of the US Supreme Court. The court's conservative majority denied every request to halt 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 appeals based on innocence claims, rights-based arguments, or charges of excessive cruelty. "We’re now operating lacking a crucial backup," noted a law professor. "Federal courts are meant to act as a backstop, but that stop gap has been eviscerated."