Capital punishment in Arkansas

According to the Arkansas Department of Correction, as of September, 10 2024, a total of 26 men were under a sentence of death in the state.

On January 24, 1992 the execution of Ricky Ray Rector was delayed by fifty minutes after the medical staff were unable to find a suitable vein in his arm.

The execution of Christina Marie Riggs faced similar delays on May 2, 2000, when staff were unable to locate a vein in her elbow.

There have been at least three death penalty volunteers in Arkansas: Ronald Gene Simmons, Christina Marie Riggs, and Clay King Smith.

A federal judge initially issued an injunction preventing the executions, but the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling and the United States Supreme Court rejected a claim that the accelerated execution schedule was "cruel and unusual punishment.

[4] The last of the four inmates put to death in April 2017 was serial killer Kenneth Williams, who was found guilty of murdering a farmer during his prison escape and sentenced to death; Williams was also convicted of two more murders but was given two life sentences for these other killings.

In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial).

[7] The governor receives for that purpose a non-binding report from the Arkansas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

[14] On Friday August 22, 2003, all 39 Arkansas death row inmates, all of them male, were moved to the Supermax at the Varner Unit.