Veterans receiving the death penalty continues to be a controversial issue, and 2025 is shaping up to be one of the deadliest years on record for former servicemembers being executed.
Based on a new study from the Death Penalty Information Center, seven veterans have been executed this year, with three other executions planned before the end of 2025, “representing 22 percent of all people executed or under warrant this year.”
Most servicemembers don’t go looking for a life of crime after they leave the military, but due to several extenuating factors, some get stuck in a turbulent “battlefield-to-prison” pipeline, such as Jeffrey Hutchinson, executed early this year in Florida. Hutchinson, a former Army Ranger who served in the Gulf War, was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), had suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and exposure to toxic chemicals. Hutchinson’s physical and psychological scars likely affected his emotional state.
The execution took place on May 1, despite a letter signed by 129 veterans urging Gov. Ron DeSantis, a U.S. Navy veteran, to halt Hutchinson’s death.
The Council on Criminal Justice determined that the conditions Hutchinson was exposed to in the military tend to be associated with a “greater likelihood of criminal justice involvement among veterans.”
While the Supreme Court has considered the significance of military service in capital punishment cases, the Death Penalty Information Center argues that lower courts haven’t always upheld the higher court’s suggestions.
“Many veterans have been executed without a jury ever hearing meaningful information about their service,” the center wrote in a press release. “According to best practices, a capital defendant’s military service is an essential part of their story for a jury to consider.”
Since 1972, 226 veterans have been put to death, representing 14 percent of all inmates executed since that time. Currently, about 200 veterans (10 percent of all prisoners facing the death penalty) are on death row, a high tally considering only 6 percent of the general population are veterans.
Additionally, since 1972, 807 veterans have received death sentences across 42 states, along with federal and military prosecution.
“Our country has sentenced to death veterans from every major conflict since World War II, who served in every branch of the armed forces, and held every rank from private to colonel,” according to the report.
Florida Leads the Nation
Florida’s veteran death sentences jump off the page.
Based on study results, the “Sunshine State” has convicted 117 veterans for capital punishment, leading the country. Since 2020, Florida has sentenced five veterans to death, while no other state has sentenced more than one. This year, Florida has already executed five veterans and plans to put two more to death in November. In 2025, across all states with the death penalty, Florida executed two-thirds of the veterans on death row.
Vietnam Veterans Still Impacted
Among death row veterans with combat experience, 66 percent have served in the Vietnam War. About 75 percent of these inmates have been executed.
While the war ended more than 50 years ago, Vietnam veterans continue to receive death sentences. Joseph Ables, a 75-year-old veteran, was given a death sentence this year, and Richard Jordan, 79, was recently executed. Twenty more veterans from the Vietnam era are still on death row.
Racial Disparities, Trauma, and Addiction
Similar to cases involving the general public, there are racial disparities in veterans receiving death sentences. More than 77 percent of the veterans put to death received capital punishment for murdering only white victims.
When it comes to addiction, a sharp line can also be drawn to veterans battling substance use disorders later convicted of murder (more than 40 percent), as opposed to 12 percent of the general population.
Childhood trauma can also play a factor.
“The mental and physical injuries some veterans suffer can result in intergenerational trauma—meaning their children are also harmed by those injuries,” the report states. “Dozens of death-sentenced people suffered serious trauma related to their parents’ military service.”
The Death Penalty Information Center has published a full list of veteran executions since 1972, broken down by state, year of sentence, execution date, service branch, and the veteran’s race.
