Thirty-four men have died by court-ordered executions in the U.S. so far this year, and eight others are scheduled to be put to death by year\u2019s end, including five in the next eight days.<\/p>\n
The total for 2025 already far exceeds the number of executions carried out last year \u2014 25 \u2014 and could be the highest since 2012, when 43 inmates were put to death, though still far below the modern peak of 98 executions in 1999.<\/p>\n
The increase in executions is largely being driven by four states \u2014 Florida, Texas, Alabama and South Carolina \u2014 that have carried out 76% of this year\u2019s court-ordered killings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not an uptick of executions nationally \u2014 this is really down to just a few states,\u201d said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.<\/p>\n
Chief among them is Florida<\/a>, which has already carried out 13 executions after performing just one last year. The increase comes as President Donald Trump has urged governors to expand their use of the death penalty.<\/p>\n \u201cGov. DeSantis is scheduling all of these executions with complete autonomy and in complete secrecy,\u201d Maher said.<\/p>\n DeSantis\u2019 office has not responded to questions about why the governor is increasing the pace of executions now and whether Trump\u2019s policies are playing a role. <\/p>\n Executions have been carried out this year in Alabama<\/a>, Arizona<\/a>, Florida<\/a>, Indiana<\/a>, Louisiana<\/a>, Mississippi<\/a>, Oklahoma<\/a>, South Carolina<\/a>, Tennessee<\/a> and Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n All but one of those states \u2014 Arizona \u2014 are run by Republican governors.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at the executions scheduled for the rest of the year, by state:<\/p>\n Indiana<\/p>\n Roy Lee Ward<\/a> is set to die by lethal injection early Friday in the state\u2019s third execution since resuming capital punishment<\/a> last year. <\/p>\n Ward, 53, was convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne.<\/p>\n Attorneys said Ward is remorseful and has exhausted his legal options after many court battles. <\/p>\n Missouri<\/p>\n Lance C. Shockley<\/a> is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Shockley, 48, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham outside his home in Carter County in 2005.<\/p>\n Authorities said Graham was killed because he was investigating Shockley for involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident.<\/p>\n Florida<\/p>\n Samuel Lee Smithers<\/a> is set to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n Smithers, 72, was convicted of killing two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond in 1996. Authorities said he met his two victims \u2014 Christy Cowan and Denise Roach \u2014 on different dates at a Tampa motel to pay them for sex.<\/p>\n Norman Mearle Grim Jr.<\/a>, 65, is scheduled to be put to death on Oct. 28. He was convicted of raping and killing his neighbor Cynthia Campbell, whose body was found near the Pensacola Bay Bridge in 1998.<\/p>\n Smithers\u2019 and Grim\u2019s executions would be Florida\u2019s 14th and 15th death sentences carried out in 2025, further extending the state\u2019s record for executions in one year. Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the state\u2019s previous record was eight in 2014.<\/p>\n Mississippi<\/p>\n Charles Ray Crawford<\/a> is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for kidnapping and killing a college student in 1993.<\/p>\n Crawford, 59, was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing 20-year-old community college student Kristy Ray after abducting her from her parents\u2019 home in northern Mississippi\u2019s Tippah County. Crawford told officers he had blacked out and did not recall killing her.<\/p>\n Texas<\/p>\n Robert Roberson had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Oct. 16, but his closely watched case was paused Thursday by Texas\u2019 top criminal court<\/a>.<\/p>\n Roberson, 58, had been set to become the first person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prosecutors at Roberson\u2019s 2003 trial argued that he hit his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis and violently shook her, causing severe head trauma that led to her death.<\/p>\n But Roberson says he never abused the girl. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers believe Roberson is innocent and have sought to get him a new trial.<\/p>\n Roberson\u2019s lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died from complications related to pneumonia. They say his conviction was based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence.<\/p>\n Arizona<\/p>\n Richard Kenneth Djerf<\/a> is set to be executed Oct. 17 by lethal injection for killing four members of a family in their Phoenix home.<\/p>\n Djerf, 55, had pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in the 1993 killings of Albert Luna Sr., his wife Patricia, their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle and their 5-year-old son Damien.<\/p>\n Prosecutors say Djerf blamed another Luna family member for an earlier theft of home electronic items at his apartment and became obsessed with revenge.<\/p>\n Alabama<\/p>\n