US Executions Surged in the Past Year to Highest Level in Over a Decade and a Half.

The number of executions in the United States has dramatically increased in 2025, hitting a level not seen in 16 years. This sharp uptick is attributed to a concerted push to reinvigorate judicial killings, combined with a notable shift in the approach of the nation's highest court toward eleventh-hour pleas.

A Grim Tally: 47 Executions in a Single Year

Exactly 47 men—each one were male—were put to death by individual states maintaining the death penalty in 2025. This number is nearly double the count from 2024, marking the highest annual total for executions in the country since 2009.

"The evidence shows that the death penalty in 2025 is growing less popular with the American people even as elected officials carry out death sentences in search of diminishing political benefits."

A Global Outlier

This sharp increase further separates the United States from nearly all other advanced economies, almost none of which continue the practice. In recent years, only Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan have carried out capital punishment among peer countries.

A Public Opinion Divide

The comeback of state killings clashes directly with broader patterns and modern public opinion. Over the past two decades, the use of the death penalty had been in gradual decline. Meanwhile, surveys indicate support for capital punishment for murder convictions has fallen to a 50-year low, with 52% of respondents in favor. Most of adults under the age of 55 now are against it.

Executive Action Sets the Tone

On his first day back in office, the sitting President issued an presidential directive titled "Reinstating Capital Punishment." This order aimed 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 well-known anti-death penalty advocate.

A Surge in State Executions

The national initiative was mirrored and amplified at the state level. Florida became a particular extreme case, 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 a quartet of jurisdictions were the source of almost 75% of all deaths this year. Overall, a dozen states actively used their death chambers, up from nine in 2024.

Evolving Methods

As more executions occurred, some states adopted increasingly extreme methods. One state concluded a long period without executions and followed another state's lead to use nitrogen gas as an means of execution. Observers reported the condemned individual visibly shook for multiple minutes during the process.

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. Reports suggested that in an instance, imprecise aim may have prolonged suffering for the individual.

A Changed Judicial Landscape

The surge in executions is also connected 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 marks a change from the court's traditional function as a final avenue for legal challenges based on innocence claims, constitutional arguments, or allegations of cruel punishment. "The system now functions without a safety net," noted a legal scholar. "The judiciary are supposed to serve as a backstop, but that safeguard has been removed."