American Executions Skyrocketed in the Past Year to Peak in Over a Decade and a Half.

The number of executions in the United States has sharply risen in 2025, reaching a level not seen in since 2009. This sharp uptick is attributed to a concerted push to revive the death penalty, 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 executed by individual states maintaining the death penalty this year. This number is nearly twice the total from 2024, constituting the most active period for executions in the United States in 16 years.

"The evidence shows 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 pronounced rise further isolates the United States from nearly all other developed nations, very few of which continue the practice. In recent years, only Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan have conducted capital punishment among similarly developed states.

Contradictory Trends

The resurgence of executions stands in stark contrast with broader patterns and current public sentiment. Over the past two decades, the use of the death penalty had been in gradual decline. At the same time, surveys indicate approval of capital punishment for those convicted of murder has fallen to a 50-year low, with just over half of Americans in favor. Most of citizens under the age of 55 now oppose it.

Executive Action Sets the Tone

On his inauguration day back in office, the sitting President issued an presidential directive titled "Restoring the Death Penalty." This order aimed to ensure that statutes permitting capital punishment were "upheld and properly enforced," signaling a major shift from the prior administration.

"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.

State-Level Frenzy

The national initiative was echoed and amplified at the level of individual states. The state of Florida emerged as a notable outlier, conducting 19 executions in 2025—a dramatic increase from just one the previous year. This shattered the state's prior annual record.

Together with several other southern states, these a quartet of jurisdictions were responsible for almost 75% of all executions this year. In total, a dozen states actively used their execution facilities, up from nine in 2024.

More Extreme Execution Protocols

As activity increased, some states adopted increasingly extreme techniques. Louisiana ended a long period without executions and followed another state's lead to use nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method. Observers reported the condemned individual visibly shook for multiple minutes during the process.

Meanwhile, South Carolina performed the first execution by a squad of shooters in the US since 2010, using this method for three of its total executions this year. Reports suggested that in one case, faulty targeting may have caused extended agony for the individual.

A Changed Judicial Landscape

The surge in death sentences carried out is also connected to the position of the US Supreme Court. The court's conservative majority rejected all applications to halt an execution in 2025, a rare display of judicial disengagement.

This represents a shift from the court's traditional function as a last resort for appeals based on claims of innocence, rights-based 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 final check, but that stop gap has been eviscerated."