DeSantis, Florida singled out in report as executions surge worldwide

• Florida accounted for nearly half of all U.S. executions in 2025, a year that saw the most executions nationwide since 2009.
• A new Amnesty International report notes a 78% global increase in executions in 2025 compared to the previous year.

Florida accounted for nearly half of all United States death row inmate executions in 2025 in a year when the U.S. executed more people than any year since 2009, according to a newly released report from Amnesty International. Worldwide executions surged to the highest recorded number in 44 years, the organization said.

At least 2,707 people were put to death around the world last year, a 78% increase from 2024 and the highest number of executions worldwide since 1981, the 2025 Death Sentences and Executions Global Report released on May 17 said. The bulk of them were in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other regions where authoritarian leaders have cracked down on dissent and human rights, the report said.

Of the 47 executions in the U.S., 19 were in Florida.

The report from Amnesty International, a global nonprofit organization that openly advocates against the death penalty regardless of the crime committed, specifically mentioned Gov. Ron DeSantis' newly accelerated death warrant pace and named him as one of the U.S. officials "falsely portraying the death penalty as having a unique deterrent effect."

"Over the past several years, Florida typically had one or two executions per year," said Justin Mazzola, Amnesty International USA's deputy director for research, in an email. "From 2020 to 2022, during the pandemic, Florida didn’t carry out one execution. The jump in executions in Florida in 2025 is very disheartening.  

"There have been some outlier years, including both 2023, where Florida executed 6 people, and 2025, where the state executed a shocking 19 people, more than the next three states combined," he said. "Governor DeSantis seems intent on continuing that pace."

When asked about the report, DeSantis' communications director Alex Lanfranconi said in an email, "My advice to those who are seeking to avoid the death penalty in Florida would be to not murder people."

The state is also facing increased scrutiny since documents released in 2025 seemed to indicate the Florida Department of Corrections has not followed its own lethal injection protocols and may have, in several incidents, used the wrong or expired chemicals or insufficient dosages.

Florida has 2 more executions planned within 2 weeks

The report was released just days ahead of Florida's planned seventh execution in five months.

Richard Knight is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 21 for the stabbing murders of Odessia Stephens and her 4-year-old daughter, Hanessia Mullings, in Broward County in 2000. Andrew Lukehart, convicted of fracturing a 5-month-old baby's head and throwing her body in a pond, is scheduled to follow on June 2.

DeSantis says execution is 'appropriate punishment'

In a November press conference on cancer funding, DeSantis called the death penalty "an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders," and explained that the reason he didn't issue many death warrants in previous years was largely due to COVID-19 happening a year into his term.

"It wasn't intentional, it was just there was a lot of other stuff," he said, adding that he heard from a lot of victims' families about how long they'd been waiting for closure. "If you think about it, some of these crimes were committed in the 80s, and they wait, and there's appeal, and this and that, and it's like, you know, there's a saying, 'Justice delayed is justice denied.'

"I felt that I owed it to them to make sure that this ran very smoothly and promptly."

DeSantis also said he thought the death penalty would be a stronger deterrent if executions happened more quickly.

"I think we're in a good spot now," he said.

The change also came after President Donald Trump issued a day-one executive order upon taking office in January 2025, instructing the Attorney General to prioritize seeking death sentences and to encourage state attorneys general to do the same. The U.S. Department of Justice announced on April 24 that it will be bringing back firing squads, electrocution, pentobarbital injections, and gas chambers as permissible methods of execution for federal death row inmates, along with measures to speed up death penalty cases.

US one of few countries with death penalty

Only 17 countries in the world were known to have executed people in 2025, Amnesty International's report said.

In the U.S., 23 states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty, and 10 states that still have it have not executed anyone in 10 years or more, the report said. Of those, the governors of California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have blocked executions moving forward.

"Overseeing executions doesn’t make a governor look 'tough on crime," Mazzola said. ”Instead, it makes Gov. DeSantis look out of touch. The U.S. is one of the few countries to use this cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, and even within the U.S., most states have effectively abolished it."

Florida was also one of eight states to expand its death penalty laws in 2025. Florida legislators added the option for firing squads, hangings, and gas chambers, and increased the number of aggravating factors that juries could consider when deciding capital cases.

United States sees execution surge, thanks to Florida

The United States — the only country in the Americas to execute people for the last 17 years, Amnesty International said — saw an unprecedented rise in executions in 2025, "with Florida driving the spike."

There were 47 executions in 11 states last year: Alabama (5), Arizona (2), Florida (19), Indiana (2), Louisiana (1), Mississippi (2), Missouri (1), Oklahoma (2), South Carolina (5), Tennessee (3), and Texas (5).

"The unprecedented increase in executions in one US state – Florida – represented the pinnacle of regressive steps and alarming commentary that put the death penalty at the centre of flawed security narratives for political gain," the report said.

Florida has 2nd most people on death rows in US

While California had the most people on death row with 580 as of the end of 2025, Florida was next with 251. As of May 18, that's now down to 245. The next state after that, Texas, had 169, and only four other states had more than 100: Alabama (155), North Carolina (121), Ohio (109), and Arizona (108)

"With more than 250 people on death row in Florida, the state is the second highest in the country behind California for number of people with death sentences," Mazzola said. "Amnesty International and others are asking California Gov. Newsom to commute all death sentences in California before he leaves office.

"If he does so, Florida would take the shameful position of having the most people with death sentences in the country."

Florida also tied with California for the most death sentences, 5, in 2025.

Executions increasing globally, report says

In 2025, at least 2,707 people were executed, Amnesty International said. That number does not include the thousands that Amnesty International believes were executed in China, as that information is considered to be a state secret and could not be corroborated. Reliable numbers for North Korea, Iraq, and Vietnam also could not be verified.

The biggest increase was in Iran, which executed at least 2,159 people, more than double the 2024 total. Saudi Arabia executed at least 356 people, the report said. Nearly half of all known executions were for drug-related offenses in "war on drugs" programs, with many of the rest for treason, terrorism, and "anti-government" protests.

How many executions were there in 2025?

The following is Amnesty International's list of confirmed executions. Where an + appears after a number, it means at least that many were confirmed, but more are likely. When only a + appears, it means that the organization corroborated at least one execution but couldn't provide a credible minimum number.

• China: 1,000s, unconfirmed
• Iran: 2,159+
• Saudi Arabia: 356+
• Yemen: 51+
• USA: 47
• Egypt: 23
• Somalia: 17+
• Kuwait: 17
• Singapore: 17
• Afghanistan: 6
• United Arab Emirates: 3
• Japan: 1
• South Sudan: 1
• Taiwan: 1
• Iraq: unverified
• North Korea: unverified
• Vietnam: unverified

No executions or death sentences were recorded in Europe and Central Asia, and executions in Sub-Saharan Africa were confined to Somalia and South Sudan, the report said.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, 113 countries (close to two-thirds of the world) had no death penalty, nine had it only for exceptional crimes, and 23 still had the death penalty but had not used it for 10 years or more.

“It’s time for executing countries to step into line with the rest of the world and leave this abhorrent practice in the past. The death penalty does not make us safer. Rather, it is an irreversible affront against humanity that’s driven by fear, with utter disregard for international human rights law,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. 

(This story was updated to add updates and a response from the Governor's Office.)

C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida's service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.