Until this year, death penalty executions had been dwindling across the nation. The sudden spike now is unusual, experts say.Forty-five people on death row have been executed so far this year, and three more executions are scheduled. If all are carried out, there will be almost twice as many executions this year compared to 2024.The last time there were this many executions in a single year was in 2012, when 43 executions were carried out. In general, the number of executions has trended downward since the turn of the century.More executions can still be scheduled this year, and upcoming executions can still be reversed. Last month, Oklahoma’s governor granted clemency to Tremane Wood on Nov. 13, just minutes before he was scheduled to be executed. Where executions are taking place the mostThe rise in executions is driven largely by one state — Florida. The Sunshine State has executed 18 people on death row this year, and one more is scheduled. Last year, only one person was executed. Florida has more than doubled its previous annual record of eight executions in 2014 and 1984.The decision to schedule and move forward with executions rests solely on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. When asked about the increase in executions at an unrelated news conference, DeSantis said that the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the process. DeSantis took office in 2019 and issued two death warrants in 2019, six in 2023, one in 2024 and now 19 this year.”My advice to those who are seeking to avoid the death penalty in Florida would be to not murder people,” the governor’s communications director, Alex Lanfranconi, said in response to an inquiry from the Get the Facts Data Team regarding the increase.Once a prisoner exhausts all appeals and is placed on death row, a death warrant is what sets the date of execution. Florida is one of two states where governors have singular authority over the scheduling of executions. In Pennsylvania, the other state, Gov. Josh Shapiro has placed a hold on executions.The changing methods of executions Beyond Florida, Cornell professor John Blume said that the increase in executions this year comes as states resolve litigation over the methods of execution. “The uptick is mostly the fact that executions were on pause, and they’re now going through the backlog of people,” said Blume, director of Cornell’s Death Penalty Project.A shortage of lethal injection drugs led South Carolina in 2021 to authorize the firing squad and electric chair as execution methods. Lawyers challenged the legality of those two new methods, but in 2024, the state supreme court upheld their constitutionality.Three people have been executed by firing squad in South Carolina this year — Brad Sigmon on March 7, Mikal Mahdi on April 11 and most recently Stephen Bryant on Nov. 14. Mahdi’s lawyers have said that the three-person firing squad failed to hit Mahdi’s heart, delaying his death.In Alabama, legal questions were raised after a series of botched executions in 2022. The governor temporarily halted executions, which were resumed in 2023.Alabama most recently executed a man, Anthony Boyd, on Oct. 23 using nitrogen gas, a newer method of execution that the state approved last year. The execution has renewed concerns over nitrogen gas after Boyd convulsed and heaved for about 15 minutes and remained still for another 15 minutes before death was declared.The role of politics and public opinionExecutive director of the Death Penalty Information Center Robin Maher said that political pressures may also explain some of the increase in executions. President Donald Trump has put an increased spotlight on the death penalty. On his first day in office, Trump reinstated federal use of the death penalty — which former President Joe Biden paused — and directed the attorney general to encourage states to pursue capital charges, especially in crimes committed by illegal immigrants or against law enforcement officers.“I think some elected officials in the states may be trying to curry favor or show that they are supportive of the president’s agenda in seeking and scheduling more executions,” Maher said. Both Maher and Blume cautioned that an increase in executions this year doesn’t represent a change in public opinion. A new 2025 Gallup poll shows that support for the death penalty has been declining since it peaked in the 1990s. This year, 52% of respondents said they were in favor of the death penalty, while 44% were against. That decline is also reflected in the number of new death penalty sentences. There was an 87% drop in the number of death row sentences issued from 2000 to 2024. Only about 30 new death row sentences were issued in 2024, compared to more than 300 annually at the peak in the 1990s.A July report from the Death Penalty Information Center found that 10 people have been sentenced to death in the first half of 2025, a decline from last year’s 14 sentences during the same time period.The executions carried out this year are generally for sentences that were issued decades ago, as capital trial cases have lengthy appeal processes.“The people we are seeing executed today were sentenced to death at a time when support for the death penalty and use of the death penalty was much higher than it is today,” Maher said. While Florida leads in executions so far this year, Texas has held the most capital executions by far in the modern death penalty era. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty, as it was being used by the states, was arbitrary and unconstitutional. This forced states to rewrite their death penalty laws, and the first execution under those new laws was held in 1977. From 1977 to today, 1,652 people have been executed. More than 600 of those executions were carried out by Texas.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 states, most recently in Washington in 2023. Governors in four more states — California, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ohio — have issued temporary pauses on death row executions.It is too soon to tell if the number of executions will remain high in 2026.Already 12 executions have been scheduled, but that can fluctuate. Six of those executions are scheduled in Ohio, where Gov. Mike DeWine has previously said that none will take place until a new method of execution beyond lethal injection is approved by the state legislature.PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=
Until this year, death penalty executions had been dwindling across the nation. The sudden spike now is unusual, experts say.
Forty-five people on death row have been executed so far this year, and three more executions are scheduled. If all are carried out, there will be almost twice as many executions this year compared to 2024.
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The last time there were this many executions in a single year was in 2012, when 43 executions were carried out. In general, the number of executions has trended downward since the turn of the century.
More executions can still be scheduled this year, and upcoming executions can still be reversed. Last month, Oklahoma’s governor granted clemency to Tremane Wood on Nov. 13, just minutes before he was scheduled to be executed.
Where executions are taking place the most
The rise in executions is driven largely by one state — Florida. The Sunshine State has executed 18 people on death row this year, and one more is scheduled. Last year, only one person was executed.
Florida has more than doubled its previous annual record of eight executions in 2014 and 1984.
The decision to schedule and move forward with executions rests solely on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
When asked about the increase in executions at an unrelated news conference, DeSantis said that the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the process. DeSantis took office in 2019 and issued two death warrants in 2019, six in 2023, one in 2024 and now 19 this year.
“My advice to those who are seeking to avoid the death penalty in Florida would be to not murder people,” the governor’s communications director, Alex Lanfranconi, said in response to an inquiry from the Get the Facts Data Team regarding the increase.
Once a prisoner exhausts all appeals and is placed on death row, a death warrant is what sets the date of execution. Florida is one of two states where governors have singular authority over the scheduling of executions. In Pennsylvania, the other state, Gov. Josh Shapiro has placed a hold on executions.
The changing methods of executions
Beyond Florida, Cornell professor John Blume said that the increase in executions this year comes as states resolve litigation over the methods of execution.
“The uptick is mostly the fact that executions were on pause, and they’re now going through the backlog of people,” said Blume, director of Cornell’s Death Penalty Project.
A shortage of lethal injection drugs led South Carolina in 2021 to authorize the firing squad and electric chair as execution methods. Lawyers challenged the legality of those two new methods, but in 2024, the state supreme court upheld their constitutionality.
Three people have been executed by firing squad in South Carolina this year — Brad Sigmon on March 7, Mikal Mahdi on April 11 and most recently Stephen Bryant on Nov. 14.
Mahdi’s lawyers have said that the three-person firing squad failed to hit Mahdi’s heart, delaying his death.
In Alabama, legal questions were raised after a series of botched executions in 2022. The governor temporarily halted executions, which were resumed in 2023.
Alabama most recently executed a man, Anthony Boyd, on Oct. 23 using nitrogen gas, a newer method of execution that the state approved last year. The execution has renewed concerns over nitrogen gas after Boyd convulsed and heaved for about 15 minutes and remained still for another 15 minutes before death was declared.
The role of politics and public opinion
Executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center Robin Maher said that political pressures may also explain some of the increase in executions.
President Donald Trump has put an increased spotlight on the death penalty.
On his first day in office, Trump reinstated federal use of the death penalty — which former President Joe Biden paused — and directed the attorney general to encourage states to pursue capital charges, especially in crimes committed by illegal immigrants or against law enforcement officers.
“I think some elected officials in the states may be trying to curry favor or show that they are supportive of the president’s agenda in seeking and scheduling more executions,” Maher said.
Both Maher and Blume cautioned that an increase in executions this year doesn’t represent a change in public opinion.
A new 2025 Gallup poll shows that support for the death penalty has been declining since it peaked in the 1990s. This year, 52% of respondents said they were in favor of the death penalty, while 44% were against.
That decline is also reflected in the number of new death penalty sentences.
There was an 87% drop in the number of death row sentences issued from 2000 to 2024. Only about 30 new death row sentences were issued in 2024, compared to more than 300 annually at the peak in the 1990s.
A July report from the Death Penalty Information Center found that 10 people have been sentenced to death in the first half of 2025, a decline from last year’s 14 sentences during the same time period.
The executions carried out this year are generally for sentences that were issued decades ago, as capital trial cases have lengthy appeal processes.
“The people we are seeing executed today were sentenced to death at a time when support for the death penalty and use of the death penalty was much higher than it is today,” Maher said.
While Florida leads in executions so far this year, Texas has held the most capital executions by far in the modern death penalty era.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty, as it was being used by the states, was arbitrary and unconstitutional. This forced states to rewrite their death penalty laws, and the first execution under those new laws was held in 1977.
From 1977 to today, 1,652 people have been executed. More than 600 of those executions were carried out by Texas.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 states, most recently in Washington in 2023. Governors in four more states — California, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ohio — have issued temporary pauses on death row executions.
It is too soon to tell if the number of executions will remain high in 2026.
Already 12 executions have been scheduled, but that can fluctuate. Six of those executions are scheduled in Ohio, where Gov. Mike DeWine has previously said that none will take place until a new method of execution beyond lethal injection is approved by the state legislature.
