|
|
 |
|
|
DPA Dispatch
By Death Penalty Action ● Dec 26, 2025
Smart Brevity® count: 4.5 mins...1208 words
We hope this message finds you with moments of peace, rest, and connection during this holiday season. This time of year offers space to reflect, to grieve, and to gather strength for the work ahead.
At Death Penalty Action, we are filled with gratitude for everyone who stood with us in 2025. It has been a year of deep challenge and heartbreak, but also of courage, community, and growing momentum. Together, we are building something powerful.
As we look back, we honor those we lost and recommit to the fight for justice in the year to come. If you’re in a position to give, we are very close to reaching our $40,000 year-end goal, and thanks to a group of generous donors, every contribution will be quadrupled. Your support helps ensure we stay strong and ready for what comes next.
Thank you for being part of this work. We could not do it without you.
Wishing you peace, warmth, and continued strength as we close out the year.
|
|
📊 Year in Review: The State of the Death Penalty in 2025
More executions. Fewer death sentences. A system in decline, but not without a fight.
By the numbers: This year, the U.S. carried out 47 executions, the highest number in over 15 years. Florida alone accounted for 19, as Governor Ron DeSantis aggressively used executions to assert political power, often claiming to do so on behalf of victims' families.
-
But here’s the striking contrast: while 47 people were executed, only 22 new death sentences were issued nationwide.
-
In other words, the number of people executed was more than twice the number sent to death row.
-
This points to a system that is out of balance and losing public support.
A growing majority of people in the U.S. now oppose the death penalty.
-
More and more favor alternatives like life without parole or death by incarceration.
-
Fewer juries are willing to impose death sentences.
-
People's minds are changing, and the numbers show it.
Still, the system is not going down quietly.
-
Political leaders like DeSantis are using executions as a show of force, even though executing someone decades after the crime does not bring true closure.
-
Many families of murder victims say the process adds to their suffering rather than helping them heal.
We hold on to hope, because the shift is real. The death penalty is fighting to survive, but it is increasingly out of step with what the public believes justice should look like.
|
|
🔍 Spotlight on Florida: A System in Crisis
Grace Hanna, Executive Director of FADP, outside the prison during a recent execution vigil. Photo Credit: Scott Langley Photography
Florida led the nation in executions this year, responsible for 40% of the total. The numbers tell one story. The people tell another.
Historically, Florida has been one of the five states that carries out executions year after year. Along with Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Georgia, Florida is part of the group responsible for 75% of all executions in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, according to the Death Penalty Information Center Center.
By the numbers: This year, Florida accounted for 19 of the 47 executions nationwide. That means 40% of all executions in the U.S. in 2025 happened in one state, under one governor.
Governor Ron DeSantis has offered no real explanation for the sudden surge.
-
What we do know is that the people put to death in Florida this year shared painful common ground.
-
Many were veterans.
-
Many lived with profound physical or mental disabilities.
-
Nearly all had survived lives shaped by poverty, trauma, and abuse.
-
Many experienced neglect and harm in systems run by the state itself.
The death warrants have been signed at a shocking pace, and often in a manner that appears indifferent to the human lives attached to them. The speed of executions, combined with serious errors in the process, has exposed a system that is fractured, reckless, and collapsing under its own weight.
What they're saying: At our most recent vigil, Bridget Maloney, Communications Director for Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said it plainly:
“Congratulations to Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida, because y'all are gonna actually end this death penalty.
For real, I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe that what we have done this year and what we have done in his tenure is gonna bring about the end of Florida's death penalty. So not only will he have the legacy of killing the most people the fastest. He will also have the legacy of destroying a system he so desperately wanted to protect.
And, you know what? For that, I am thankful.”
We honor every person who was executed, and we grieve with every family left carrying more pain instead of healing. But we also refuse to look away from the truth.
We will continue to fight for its end, and we will continue to hold onto hope, even in the darkest moments. Not because the system deserves it, but because people do.
|
|
⚖ Federal Executions: A Bittersweet Milestone
December 23, 2024 marked a partial victory in our years-long effort to stop federal executions.
-
While some federal death sentences were commuted, others remain.
-
Three people are still on federal death row, and four more are held under military death sentences.
-
Some men who were spared at the federal level are now facing execution in state courts or held in extreme conditions at the federal supermax prison in Colorado.
Federal officials continue to use execution rhetoric for political purposes, which is dangerous and must be challenged.
What's next: In response, we continue to organize and maintain a petition campaign that can adapt to the shifting political narrative. Petitions alone are not the solution, but they are an essential tool for movement-building.
Thanks to your support, we remain committed and prepared to push for real change when the moment comes.
|
|
🫶 Join Our Pen Pal Support Group
Death Penalty Action is pleased to offer a monthly support group for people who write to incarcerated individuals.
Our Communications Coordinator, Alli Sullivan, came to this work through writing to people on death row and understands firsthand how isolating this experience can be. Penpals are often misunderstood, making it difficult to talk openly—even with those closest to us.
This group creates space to connect with others who understand. We meet (typically) on the third Sunday of each month at 1pm PT / 4pm ET.
|
|
As we close out the year, we want to thank you for standing with us in this urgent and often difficult work. Every call you make, every petition you sign, every vigil you attend, and every gift you give moves us closer to a world without executions.
We know this work can be heavy, especially during the holidays. Please know that we see you, we appreciate you, and we are stronger because you are with us.
From all of us at Death Penalty Action, we wish you a peaceful, restorative holiday season.
With hope,
The Death Penalty Action Team
|
|
|
|
Was this edition useful?
 
Your responses are anonymous
|
|
|
|
|
|
Powered by
|
|
This email was sent by Death Penalty Action via Axios HQ
|
|
|
|
