Dec. 15 (UPI) — The United States had the highest number of executions in about 15 years this year due to an increase in Florida despite historically low support for the form of punishment, the Death Penalty Information Center said in its year-end report.
As of Monday, 46 executions have been carried out in 2025, with another two scheduled before the end of December. The last time the annual total was that high was in 2010, when 46 people were executed.
The total for 2025 nearly doubled the previous year’s figure of 24.
“The increase in this year’s execution numbers was caused by the outlier state of Florida, where the governor set a record number of executions,” said Robin Maher, the center’s executive director.
“The data show that the decisions of [Florida] Gov. [Ron] DeSantis and other elected officials are increasingly at odds with the decisions of American juries and the opinions of the American public.
The center said 2025’s figures represent “divergent and contradictory trends” as public opinion polls show waning support for the death penalty.
A Gallup poll released in October showed that 52% of Americans favor the death penalty, a five-decade low. The last time this figure was this low was in 1972, the year the U.S. Supreme Court banned capital punishment.
The poll also found that 44% of people outright oppose the death penalty, the highest figure since 1966.
These trends were reflected in the juries of capital murder cases. Of the juries asked to choose sentences that could involve the death penalty, 56% rejected the form of punishment. Of the more than 50 capital trials this year, 14 juries unanimously agreed to mete out the death penalty.
