{"id":371636,"date":"2016-03-31T21:34:25","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T02:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/state\/arkansas-law\/arkansas-capital-punishment-laws.html"},"modified":"2024-12-04T16:28:49","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T21:28:49","slug":"arkansas-capital-punishment-laws","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/state\/arkansas-law\/arkansas-capital-punishment-laws.html","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas Capital Punishment Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Arkansas Capital Punishment Laws<\/h1>\n
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\n By Christie Nicholson, J.D.<\/a> | Legally reviewed by FindLaw Staff<\/a>\n | Last updated\n
\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
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This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Fact-Checked\n <\/summary>\n\n
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The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n

Capital punishment has always been a controversial issue for Americans. A Pew Research Center<\/a> study in 2021 found that 60% of people in the United States are in favor of the death penalty. But 78% of all Americans fear that there is a risk of executing an innocent person.<\/p>\r\n

Arkansas is one of 27 states that still have the death penalty. Others include Texas and Missouri. Like most other states, the method of execution in Arkansas is lethal injection, although Ark. Code Ann. \u00a7 5-4-617<\/a> says the method for some death row inmates will be electrocution.<\/p>\r\n

While the capital of Arkansas is Little Rock, executions take place at the Varner Supermax Unit<\/a> in Grady. The state’s death row prison now houses 27 people; all are men. The state has carried out one for the federal government and 31 state executions since 1976. The governors in Arkansas have granted clemency only twice.<\/p>\r\n

Here, we’ll explain Arkansas’ death penalty laws. We will discuss the crimes that are subject to capital punishment and the factors the courts will consider when determining whether to impose a death sentence.<\/p>\r\n

History of the Death Penalty in the United States<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

More than half the states in this country have the death penalty, including Arkansas. For a short time, there was a moratorium on capital punishment. In a 1972 Supreme Court case, Furman v. Georgia<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>the justices said the death penalty was unconstitutional. The court found that the application of the death penalty in most states was arbitrary and discriminatory.<\/p>\r\n

Within months, states began to reinstate the death penalty, with Florida leading the way just five months after the Furman<\/i><\/a> case. Within a few years, 34 other states followed suit. The states that chose to keep the death penalty had to revise their laws to ensure that their application of the capital punishment laws was constitutional.<\/p>\r\n

Many states did this by giving the prosecutor and the defendant in a capital case the opportunity to introduce mitigating and aggravating factors during the sentencing phase. By 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court said the death penalty was not in violation of the Eighth Amendment and that states were free to reinstate capital punishment (Gregg v. Georgia<\/i><\/a>).<\/p>\r\n

Method of Execution in Arkansas<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

According to the Death Penalty Information Center<\/a>, the current method of execution in Arkansas is lethal injection. This wasn’t always the case. The first execution in Arkansas was in 1820 and involved a man named Thomas Dickinson \u2014 a convicted murderer. The method of execution, in his case, was hanging.<\/p>\r\n

In 1913, Arkansas changed the method of execution to the electric chair but changed it again in 1990 to lethal injection. The Department of Corrections used to handle executions and even chose the lethal medication (midazolam<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n

In 2012, the Arkansas Supreme Court said that the capital punishment laws and protocols gave the Department of Corrections too much authority over executions<\/a>. One year later, lawmakers in Arkansas passed a law shielding the identity of the companies producing the lethal injection drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

Arkansas Law and Capital Crimes<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

Under Arkansas capital punishment laws, the courts can sentence a defendant to death if they are guilty of capital murder. In Davis v. State<\/i><\/a>, the Supreme Court of Arkansas defined capital murder as any case involving the premeditated and deliberate death of another person.<\/p>\r\n

Arkansas’ capital punishment statute<\/a> spells out the specific crimes that carry the potential of a death sentence. These crimes include the following:<\/p>\r\n