TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025, accounting for 40% of all executions nationwide and making the state the single driving force behind what would otherwise have been a historically typical year, according to a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center.
Nationwide, 47 people were executed, the report said. Without Florida’s executions, the United States would have recorded fewer than 30 executions for the year, a level consistent with recent national trends.
“This is the year of the national execution surge that wasn’t,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Policy Project. “Florida drove almost the entire increase.”
Experts described Florida as an “extreme outlier” at a time when public support for the death penalty continues to decline. No other state came close to Florida’s execution total, the report noted.
Texas is the only other state that has ever executed more than 18 people in a single year, according to the report, which pointed to 2009. Florida has now surpassed that figure.
The people executed in Florida were significantly older than many might expect. The average age was 60, and most of the crimes for which they were convicted occurred decades ago, according to a review of execution data.
Only two of the executions were connected to South Florida, the report found. One was Victor Tony Jones, executed in September for killing a couple near Wynwood. Another was Michael Tanzi, executed in April for the 2000 murder of Miami Herald employee Janet Acosta. The Herald witnessed Tanzi’s execution.
Legal experts said the increase is tied to recent changes in Florida law. The state made it easier and faster to impose death sentences, said Michelle Suskauer, a former president of the Florida Bar.
In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law allowing juries to recommend death without full agreement. That was a major shift in how death sentences are decided, Suskauer said.
The report also raised concerns about who is being executed. More than 80% of those put to death showed signs of serious mental illness, brain damage or severe childhood trauma, it stated.
“The numbers are overwhelming,” Suskauer said. “But the individual stories are significant.”
Several people executed said they were abused as children in state-run reform schools. Some reported being beaten, raped or tortured, the report said.
At least two people said they had no lawyer for years before their execution dates were set, the report added. Those claims raised alarms among defense attorneys.
“It’s complicated,” Suskauer said. “This is the ultimate punishment, and the process has to be fair.”
Dunham was far more critical. “The bodies on the gurney are there because it’s politically useful,” he said.
DeSantis has defended the executions, arguing that victims’ families want justice and that he is doing his part to deliver it, he said in November.
“I review these cases carefully,” DeSantis added. “If I thought someone wasn’t guilty, I would not allow the execution.”
More than 240 people remain on Florida’s death row. “This debate isn’t over,” Suskauer said. “And the consequences are permanent.”
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