Table of Contents
The Death Penalty in 2025
Executive Summary Introduction New Death Sentences Public Opinion Executions Legislation Supreme Court Innocence and Clemency Methodology Key Quotes
The Death Penalty in 2025

The Death Penalty in 2025

Majority of Capital Juries in 2025 Rejected Death Sentences

Posted on Dec 15, 2025

Florida-Driven Surge in Executions Drives Uptick in Projected Total Executions (47) Despite Record-Low Public Approval (52%)

Executive Summary

  • New DPI research found that when cap­i­tal juries were asked to decide between a life sen­tence and a death sen­tence this year, more than half (56%) rec­om­mend­ed a life sen­tence over a death sentence. 

  • New death sen­tences declined this year (23), reflect­ing the grow­ing reluc­tance of juries to impose death sen­tences. Only 15 juries nation­wide were able to unan­i­mous­ly agree to impose death sentences.

  • This year’s Gallup poll found that sup­port for the death penal­ty is at a 50-year low of 52%. Gallup also found that 44% of Americans now oppose the death penal­ty — the high­est lev­el of oppo­si­tion record­ed since May 1966.

  • A major­i­ty of peo­ple under age 55 now oppose the death penal­ty — 50% of 35- to 54-year-olds and 52% of 18- to 34-year-olds.

  • Executions rose from 25 in 2024 to 47 in 2025. The change is due almost entire­ly to a dra­mat­ic increase in exe­cu­tions in Florida, which alone account­ed for 19 exe­cu­tions, or 40% of the year’s total.

  • Ten mil­i­tary vet­er­ans were exe­cut­ed this year, sev­en of them in Florida. This was the high­est num­ber of vet­er­ans exe­cut­ed in almost 20 years.

  • Methods of exe­cu­tion con­tin­ued to raise con­cerns. Louisiana joined Alabama in exe­cut­ing pris­on­ers using nitro­gen gas, a method cor­rec­tions offi­cials char­ac­ter­ized as ​“flaw­less,” even as media wit­ness­es report­ed pris­on­ers twitch­ing, clench­ing their hands, and jerk­ing against restraints. Alabama’s exe­cu­tion of Anthony Boyd using nitro­gen gas last­ed near­ly 40 min­utes, with Mr. Boyd show­ing many signs of distress.

  • South Carolina per­formed the first fir­ing squad exe­cu­tion nation­al­ly in 15 years; an autop­sy after Mikal Mahdi’s fir­ing squad exe­cu­tion indi­cat­ed it was ​“botched” when the shoot­ers appar­ent­ly missed their target.

  • The U.S. Supreme Court denied every request to stay an exe­cu­tion in 2025.

  • New leg­isla­tive efforts tripled this year over last year, but only 17 bills were enact­ed. Florida alone enact­ed five new laws intend­ed to expand use of the death penal­ty and chal­lenge exist­ing Supreme Court prece­dent. Seven oth­er states passed laws increas­ing secre­cy, mod­i­fy­ing exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols and pro­ce­dures, expand­ing death penal­ty eli­gi­bil­i­ty, and cur­tail­ing post-conviction appeals.

Explore the Report

Introduction This year’s report details the diver­gent and con­tra­dic­to­ry trends that char­ac­ter­ized the death penal­ty in 2025.
New Death Sentences New death sen­tence in 2025 decreased from 2024. Fewer than half of all cap­i­tal tri­als that reached sen­tenc­ing phase this year result­ed in a death sentence.
Public Opinion Support for the death penal­ty has fall­en to a five-decade low and recent polls con­tin­ue to show most young adults in the U.S. oppose the death penalty.
Executions The rise in exe­cu­tions in 2025 was dri­ven large­ly by the enor­mous increase in exe­cu­tions in Florida.
Legislation New laws enact­ed in 2025 include bills to expand use of the death penal­ty, alter exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols, and mod­i­fy appellate procedures.
Supreme Court The United States Supreme Court issued no stays of exe­cu­tion, while rul­ing for death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers in large­ly procedural cases.
Innocence and Clemency Cases involv­ing strong inno­cence claims con­tin­ued to draw sig­nif­i­cant atten­tion in 2025.
Methodology A brief descrip­tion of the process used to com­pile data for this report.
Key Quotes Statements by judges, leg­is­la­tors, and oth­er key death penalty stakeholders.

Credits

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) is a nation­al non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion whose mis­sion is to serve the media, pol­i­cy­mak­ers, and the gen­er­al pub­lic with data and analy­sis on issues con­cern­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and the peo­ple it affects. DPI does not take a posi­tion on the death penal­ty itself but is crit­i­cal of prob­lems in its appli­ca­tion. This report was writ­ten by DPI​’s Executive Director Robin M. Maher and Managing Director Anne Holsinger, with the assis­tance of DPI staff (Anumta Ali, Hayley Bedard, Taylor Bonner, Kinari Council, Dane Lindberg, Nina Motazedi, Pamela Quanrud, and Leah Roemer) and interns (Sophia Anderson, Ella Joshi, Lani Lamoureaux, Hayley Richbart, and Kayla Will). Further sources for facts and quo­ta­tions are avail­able upon request. The Center is fund­ed through the gen­eros­i­ty of indi­vid­ual donors and foun­da­tions, includ­ing the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center; the Fund for Nonviolence; M. Quinn Delaney; the Elizabeth Zitrin Foundation; and the Tides Foundation. The views expressed in this report are those of DPI and do not nec­es­sar­i­ly reflect the opin­ions of its donors.