American Capital Punishment Cases Surged in the Past Year to Peak in Over a Decade and a Half.

The count of executions in the United States has sharply risen in 2025, reaching a level not seen in 16 years. This sharp uptick is attributed to a focused campaign to reinvigorate the death penalty, coupled with a significant change in the stance of the US Supreme Court toward last-minute appeals.

A Grim Tally: 47 Executions in a Single Year

A total of 47 men—all of whom were male—were executed by individual states that utilize the death penalty in 2025. This number is nearly twice the count from the previous year, constituting the highest annual total for executions in the United States since 2009.

"Data indicates that the death penalty in 2025 is increasingly unpopular with the American people even as politicians schedule executions in search of diminishing political benefits."

A Global Outlier

This pronounced rise further separates the United States from nearly all other advanced economies, very few of which still carry out executions. In recent years, just Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan have carried out capital punishment among peer countries.

A Public Opinion Divide

The comeback of executions clashes directly with broader patterns and current public sentiment. Over the past two decades, the use of the death penalty had been in a steady decrease. Meanwhile, surveys indicate approval of capital punishment for murder convictions 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 are against it.

Executive Action Sets the Tone

On his inauguration day back in office, the President issued an presidential directive titled "Reinstating Capital Punishment." This order sought to ensure that statutes permitting capital punishment were "upheld and properly enforced," marking a clear change from the previous presidency.

"The tone is set, the national dialogue 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 federal push was echoed and intensified at the level of individual states. Florida emerged as a particular outlier, conducting 19 executions in 2025—a staggering increase from just one the previous year. This shattered the state's prior annual record.

Together with Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, these four states were responsible for almost three-quarters of all deaths this year. In total, a dozen states employed their execution facilities, up from nine in 2024.

Evolving Methods

As more executions occurred, some states adopted increasingly extreme techniques. One state concluded a long period without executions and became the second state to use nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method. Witnesses reported the prisoner convulsed for multiple minutes during the process.

Meanwhile, a different state performed the first execution by a squad of shooters in the US since 2010, deploying this approach for three of its five executions this year. Accounts suggested that in one case, faulty targeting may have caused extended agony for the individual.

The Supreme Court's Role

The increase in executions is also connected to the posture of the nation's highest court. The majority-conservative bench denied every request to stay an execution in 2025, a notable demonstration of reluctance to intervene.

This marks a change from the court's traditional function as a last resort for legal challenges based on claims of innocence, constitutional arguments, or charges of excessive cruelty. "We’re now operating lacking a crucial backup," commented a law professor. "Federal courts are supposed to serve as a final check, but that stop gap has been eviscerated."