New Death Sentences

The num­ber of new death sen­tences in 2025 decreased to 23.¹ Fewer than half of the more than 50 cap­i­tal tri­als that reached the sen­tenc­ing phase this year result­ed in a death sen­tence. 2025 is the fifth year in a row with few­er than 30 peo­ple sen­tenced to death in a sin­gle year and the eleventh year in a row with few­er than 50 new death sen­tences, demon­strat­ing the grow­ing reluc­tance by juries to impose death. 

Over half of those sen­tenced to death in 2025 were per­sons of col­or. All iden­ti­fied as men. 

As in pre­vi­ous years, new death sen­tences were con­cen­trat­ed in a minor­i­ty of states. The 23 new death sen­tences reached in 2025 were imposed in eight states. Florida and California each sen­tenced five indi­vid­u­als to death, and Alabama sen­tenced four indi­vid­u­als to death. New death sen­tences were reached in three cas­es in Texas, two cas­es each in Arizona and North Carolina, and one case each in Missouri and Pennsylvania. 

Notably, pros­e­cu­tors today are seek­ing few­er death sen­tences today than they did 20 years ago, for many rea­sons. Capital tri­als are lengthy and much more expen­sive than non-cap­i­­tal tri­als. One study out of Colorado found cap­i­tal cas­es took four times longer than cas­es where life with­out parole (LWOP) was sought, and stud­ies show that cap­i­tal cas­es cost between 2.5 and 5 times more than non­cap­i­tal cas­es. This year, no cap­i­tal cas­es went to tri­al in four­teen states where the death penal­ty remains an option, and no cap­i­tal tri­als were pros­e­cut­ed by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. However, in the first year of the Trump Administration, Attorney General Pam Bondi has autho­rized fed­er­al cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions in two dozen cases. 

Prosecutors pur­sued death sen­tences in more than 50 cap­i­tal cas­es that went to sen­tenc­ing in twelve states — few­er than half the num­ber of states where the death penal­ty remains legal. While pros­e­cu­tors make ini­tial deci­sions about whether to seek a death sen­tence, it is juries that decide sen­tences. The decades-long decline of new death sen­tences indi­cates grow­ing reluc­tance by both deci­­sion-mak­ers. New research by DPI also finds that when asked to choose, a major­i­ty of juries rec­om­mend life sen­tences over death sentences. 

In total, 31 cap­i­tal juries in sev­en states found rea­sons not to sen­tence defen­dants to death. In the two states where pros­e­cu­tors most often sought the death penal­ty, Alabama and Florida, juries were marked­ly reluc­tant to reach a sen­tence of death. In Alabama only one-fifth (4/​20) of death-qual­i­­fied juries rec­om­mend­ed death sen­tences. In Florida less than half (6/​14)² of death-qual­i­­fied juries rec­om­mend­ed death sentences.

Only 15 juries nation­wide reached unan­i­mous death ver­dicts in 2025 — all the more remark­able giv­en that jurors in cap­i­tal tri­als must be ​‘death qual­i­fied,’ which excludes any­one cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly opposed to impos­ing a death sentence. 

For a sec­ond year in a row, rough­ly a third of 2025​’s new death sen­tences were the result of non-unan­i­­mous jury ver­dicts. Only Florida and Alabama allow non-unan­i­­mous death sen­tenc­ing. In all four death sen­tences reached in 2025 in Alabama, and in three out of five new death sen­tences imposed in Florida, the jury was unable to unan­i­mous­ly agree on a sen­tence. In anoth­er Florida case, the defen­dant waived his right to a jury, and a judge imposed the death sen­tence. Florida has the nation’s low­est thresh­old for death sen­tences – only eight out of 12 jurors must agree to impose death. In Alabama, ten out of 12 jurors must agree to impose death.