Full Breakdown
Executions Surge Under President Trump’s Second Term
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
Since President Donald Trump resumed office in January 2025, the United States has seen a sharp increase in state-carried out executions. The Death Penalty Information Center reports 47 people were executed in 2025, the highest annual total since 2009, and a further 28 have been put to death so far in 2026. Executions this year have occurred in six states: 15 in Florida, six in Texas, three in Oklahoma, two in Alabama, one in Tennessee and one in Arizona. The most recent execution was Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, who was lethal-injected in Huntsville, Texas, on September 24 after being convicted of a 2005 robbery-related triple homicide.
Recent Execution Data
In addition to the 28 executions recorded in 2026, a dozen more are scheduled before the end of the year. Among those already executed are Melvin Trotter, convicted of a 1986 fatal stabbing; Billy Leon Kearse, who killed a police officer in 1991; and Harold Gene Lucas, sentenced for a 1976 murder of a 16-year-old. Christa Pike, 50, is slated for execution in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the first woman executed in that state in 206 years and the 19th woman executed nationwide since 1976.
Policy Shifts: Biden Moratorium vs. Trump Orders
The Biden administration imposed a moratorium on federal capital punishment and, after a Department of Justice review, commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 federal death-row inmates.
Public Opinion and Deterrence Debate
A Pew Research Center poll conducted in July found that 66 % of Americans now favor the death penalty for convicted murderers, up from 61 % in April 2021, and 68 % consider it morally justified. However, 59 % of respondents expressed doubt that the threat of execution deters serious crimes, indicating persistent skepticism about the policy’s effectiveness despite growing public support.
Background & Context
While the execution count has risen, the number of new death sentences remains low: the Death Penalty Information Center notes 23 death sentences were handed down in 2025, far below the more than 100 annually in the 2000s and the 325-sentence peak in 1986. Over the past two decades, 11 states have abolished the death penalty, most recently New Hampshire (2019), Colorado (2020), Virginia (2021) and Washington (2023).