Thirty-five men have died by court-ordered executions in the U.S. so far this year, including one early Friday, with seven others scheduled to be put to death later this month.

The total for 2025 already far exceeds the number of executions carried out last year — 25 — 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.

The increase in executions is largely being driven by four states — Florida, Texas, Alabama and South Carolina — that have carried out 76% of this year's court-ordered killings.

“This is not an uptick of executions nationally — this is really down to just a few states,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Chief among them is Florida, which has a

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