STARKE, FLORIDA – A 66-year-old man convicted for the 1979 rape and murder of a six-year-old girl was executed by lethal injection in Florida on Thursday, 13 November 2025, marking a record 16th execution in the state this year. Bryan Frederick Jennings was pronounced dead at 6:20 PM local time (Friday, 14 November 2025, 2:20 AM EAT) at the Florida State Prison. The event underscores a stark divergence in the application of capital punishment globally, particularly when contrasted with Kenya's long-standing de facto moratorium on executions.

Jennings' case dates back to May 1979, when, as a 20-year-old Marine on leave, he abducted six-year-old Rebecca Kunash from her bedroom, sexually assaulted her, and drowned her in a canal. His execution is the latest in a series authorized by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has now overseen more executions in a single year than any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976. Governor DeSantis has defended the accelerated pace, stating earlier in November 2025 that capital punishment is “an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders” and serves to bring justice to victims' families.

The developments in Florida, which leads the US in executions this year, place it in sharp contrast with the legal and human rights trajectory in Kenya and much of Africa.

Kenya's Abolitionist Stance in Practice

While the events in Florida highlight an active application of capital punishment, Kenya maintains a dualistic position. The death penalty remains enshrined in its laws for severe offenses such as murder, treason, and robbery with violence, yet the country has not carried out an execution since 1987. The last individuals executed were Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras Oteyo Okumu, leaders of the failed 1982 coup attempt. This nearly four-decade hiatus makes Kenya an "abolitionist in practice," a status shared by a growing number of nations.

A pivotal moment in Kenya's jurisprudence on capital punishment came on 14 December 2017, with the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in *Francis Karioko Muruatetu & Another v. Republic*. The court declared the mandatory nature of the death penalty unconstitutional, finding it inconsistent with the Bill of Rights in the 2010 Constitution. This decision restored judicial discretion, allowing judges to consider mitigating circumstances in capital cases rather than being compelled to issue a death sentence upon conviction. The ruling prompted a wave of sentence rehearings for many on death row.

Successive Kenyan presidents have further solidified the moratorium through mass commutations. In 2009, President Mwai Kibaki commuted the sentences of over 4,000 death row inmates. President Uhuru Kenyatta followed suit in 2016, commuting the sentences of all 2,747 individuals on death row at the time. More recently, in July 2023, President William Ruto commuted all death sentences imposed before November 2022 to life imprisonment.

The Path Towards Formal Abolition

Despite these progressive steps, death sentences continue to be handed down by Kenyan courts. According to a May 2024 report from Amnesty International, death sentences in Kenya increased from 79 in 2022 to 131 in 2023. However, as of February 2024, the number of people on death row was reported to be 101. Civil society groups, including the Kenya Human Rights Commission, continue to advocate for the complete legislative abolition of the death penalty, urging Parliament to pass measures like the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, which would replace the death sentence with life imprisonment.

Globally, the trend leans towards abolition. An April 2025 report by Amnesty International noted that recorded executions worldwide in 2024 reached their highest level since 2015, though the number of countries carrying out executions was at a record low. This indicates that executions are increasingly concentrated in a small minority of countries. The actions in Florida, therefore, run counter to this international shift, placing the state alongside a handful of jurisdictions that continue to actively use capital punishment. The contrast between a record year for executions in Florida and Kenya's nearly 40-year moratorium and ongoing legal reforms highlights a profound and growing global divide on the ultimate question of justice and human rights.