The following is a list of people executed in the U.S. state of Arkansas before 1972, when capital punishment was briefly abolished by the Supreme Court's ruling in Furman v. Georgia. For people executed after the restoration of capital punishment by the Supreme Court's ruling in Gregg v. Georgia (1976), see List of people executed in Arkansas.
Arkansas abolished public hangings in 1901 with the exception of hangings for rape until 1906.
In May 1913, Arkansas officially replaced local hangings with centralized electrocution, with all executions moved to a single execution chamber at the state penitentiary in Little Rock. A test electrocution was carried out on a steer and its first execution that September cost the state $702. State law also prohibited newspapers from publishing details of the executions. Hanging remained in use until the transition was completed, and a few more hangings were carried out by exception for convictions prior to the change. In 1933, the electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky", was moved from the state penitentiary to Tucker Prison Farm.