Florida contributed to a national uptick in executions this year. 5 takeaways

Florida executed a record-breaking 19 death row inmates in 2025, nearly doubling the national average, according to a report by the Death Penalty Information Center. This surge in executions comes amid declining public support for capital punishment and significant changes in Florida’s death penalty laws.

FULL STORY: Florida executed 19 death row inmates in 2025. That caused unusual national uptick

Here are the highlights:

• Florida’s 19 executions accounted for about 40% of the nation’s total executions in 2025. Texas is the only other state to have exceeded 18 executions in a year, last doing so in 2009.
• The increase in executions is partly attributed to a backlog from the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in state laws, including a new rule allowing non-unanimous jury recommendations for death sentences in Florida.
• Concerns have been raised about fairness in some of the executions, as many inmates had serious mental health issues or lacked legal representation, and some were victims of abuse at state reform schools.
• Gov. Ron DeSantis has been criticized for politicizing the death penalty, with accusations that executions are being expedited for political gain rather than justice.
• Florida’s death row still houses over 240 inmates. There are ongoing debates about the balance between delivering justice for victims’ families and ensuring that defendants’ rights are protected.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in the Miami Herald newsroom. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by Miami Herald journalists.