Florida is on track to more than double the state record number of executions; the state’s previous high was eight in 2014. This year, 15 inmates have been executed, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed two more warrants for later this year.
Since DeSantis became governor, the number of executions has fluctuated, starting with a small number of executions in 2019, to having no executions between 2020 and 2022. Florida carried out six executions in 2023, one in 2024, and now in 2025, the record-breaking total.
This trend is not limited to Florida; the United States is seeing its first year since 2012 with 40 or more executions. Twenty three states have completely abolished the death penalty and four other states have paused executions by executive action. The Sunshine State has the highest number of executions among any other state in the country, followed by Texas and Alabama, each with one-third as many executions as Florida; five.
Earlier this week, Gov. DeSantis said his office's sudden shift from typically small numbers to a record year was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous year with fewer executions was not intentional; his office was focused on other issues, and the increase was driven entirely by bringing justice to the victims' families.
“My view is it is an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders,” Gov. DeSantis said. “If somebody goes and shoots 10 people, they should get the death penalty very quickly."
Still, Melanie Kalmanson, an attorney and author of the blog Tracking Florida’s Death Penalty, believes his explanation was incomplete, since in her view it does not explain the variability in the execution rates.
“The best guess that I can make with education on this topic is that it has to do with the Trump administration and the direction that they gave in the beginning of 2025 to aggressively pursue the death penalty,” she said.
Kalmanson continued by saying that even though the governor said the death penalty is a deterrent, the data suggest otherwise.
“There's some indication that part of his reason is trying to lower the number of prisoners on Florida's death row,” she said.
Currently, the state has 256 inmates on death row, the second-largest death row population in the nation. Many inmates have spent decades in custody before facing execution. For example, Victor Tony Jones was executed earlier this year after more than 30 years on death row, sentenced in 1993.
Among the supporters of the state's approach is Bill Campbell, who has gone to more than half of this year's executions to express his beliefs. “I don’t find it significant that now we have more executions in Florida,” he said. “It’s a drop in a bucket, what is the difference between 15 and five?”
On the other hand, organizations like Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church and Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) have organized masses and protests during every execution this year.
Maria DeLiberato, former executive director and current legal and policy director of the FADP, expressed her view of the best outcome for the death penalty.
“I think it's pretty clear that the death penalty can and should be replaced with life without the possibility of parole,” she said. “It would save a lot of time, resources and unnecessary pain of bringing these cases back to the forefront.”
DeLiberato also said she believes the reason for this year being so atypical is politically motivated, and the number of executions in the future will stay in this range as long as DeSantis is in office.
“He is now claiming that he is doing this for the victims,” she said about Gov. DeSantis. “But there have been several victims in the last few cases in particular, Windom and Smithers, where the victim’s [family members] were adamant that they did not want the execution to happen.”
The last substantial change to the state's death penalty criteria occurred on April 20, 2023, when the governor signed a bill lowering the jury threshold for death recommendation from unanimity to an 8–4 vote.
A recent Gallup poll shows a shift in public opinion, with 44% of respondents not being in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder. This is an all-time high, tied with the earlier peak of the 2023 poll. On the other hand, the number of respondents who favored this punishment still exceeded those who did not by 8%, totaling 52% in favor, 44% not in favor, and 4% who said they did not have an opinion on the topic.
Despite the public debate, the state continues to schedule execution dates with two more inmates, Bryan Jennings and Richard Barry Randolph, with scheduled execution dates.
Jennings was convicted on counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual battery on a victim under 11 years of age and burglary with intent to commit sexual battery. His victim was 6-year-old Rebecca Kunash. As for Randolph, he was convicted of counts of first-degree murder, armed robbery, sexual battery with a deadly weapon and grand theft. His victim was Minnie Ruth McCollum, the manager of a convenience store where Rudolph used to work.
Jennings will be executed on Nov. 13 and Randolph on Nov. 20, pushing the number of executions in Florida in 2025 to 17.