Exploring some reasons for the uptick in US execitions in 2025

The Marshall Project has this notable new piece exploring some reasons for the higher number of executions throughout the US in 2025.  I recommend the piece in full, and here are excerpts (with links from the original):

Ten states have executed 30 people since January, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. That’s already the highest annual total in more than a decade, with 13 more executions planned through December.

What explains the rise? Probably not public support. Recent polls show around half of Americans favor executions, but the best evidence of what people really think is found in courtrooms, where jurors have increasingly rejected the punishment. Across the country, juries have sent 10 people to death row this year, compared with a high of 315 in all of 1996.

It’s prisoners like those, from a generation ago, who are now facing execution. Calls to experts on the death penalty led me to four interconnected theories to explain the rise in executions this year.

1. The Trump Effect …

2. The DeSantis Effect …

3. The Supreme Court Effect …

4. The Methods …