Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state ofArizona. There are 107 people on death row as of October 18, 2025[update].[1] Ninety-six executions have been carried out sinceArizona became a state in 1912. In November 2024, Attorney GeneralKris Mayes announced that the state would resume executions in 2025 after a two-year pause.
Arizona abolished the death penalty for murder by popular vote in 1916, but reinstated it, again by popular vote, in 1918.
No executions occurred between 1962 and thenational moratorium in 1972. Executions resumed in 1992.
In 2000, then–Attorney GeneralJanet Napolitano created a Capital Case Commission to study the state's capital punishment laws. The commission issued a report in 2002, proposing changes to the "public defender's office for capital cases, adjustments to laws and court rules, and minimum competency requirements."[2]
In 2007, due to the high number of pending capital cases after the election ofAndrew Thomas as Maricopa County Attorney, Arizona Supreme Court JusticeRuth McGregor called for a review of the death penalty. The Arizona Supreme Court created the Capital Case Task Force.[3] The court then established a Capital Case Oversight Committee.[4] The Committee studies "issues affecting the administration of capital cases and propose recommendations to improve the judicial administration of these cases."[5]
After theexecution of Joseph Wood in 2014, executions were temporarily halted but resumed in 2022.[6][7]
On January 23, 2023, newly inaugurated governorKatie Hobbs ordered a review of death penalty protocols and in light of that, newly inaugurated attorney generalKris Mayes issued a hold on any executions in the state.[8] Hobbs appointed retired Magistrate Judge David Duncan as the reviewer.[9] However, in November 2024 Hobbs announced that she had canceled Judge Duncan's review after his updates had gone "far afield of her request to review the protocols and procedures" and her concerns were addressed in a separate report by the department of corrections.[10]
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by thejury and must be unanimous.
In case of ahung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a retrial happens before another jury. If the second jury is also deadlocked, a life sentence is issued.[11]
TheGovernor of Arizona can grant clemency only with advice and consent of the five-member Arizona Board of Executive Clemency.[12]
Arizona's death row for males is located at the Rincon Unit of theArizona State Prison Complex – Tucson. Female death row prisoners are housed at the Lumley Unit of theArizona State Prison Complex – Perryville. Executions occur at the Central Unit of theArizona State Prison Complex – Florence.[13]
Ten specific aggravating circumstances constitute capital murder in the State of Arizona:[14][15]
Arizona has used hanging, lethal gas, and lethal injection as its execution methods.
From Statehood until 1931, the primary execution method was hanging. Nineteen executions by hanging occurred between April 16, 1920, and June 20, 1931. The first gas execution occurred in 1934.[16]
Sincecapital punishment was resumed in1976, 41 people in Arizona convicted ofmurder have beenexecuted atFlorence State Prison inFlorence, Arizona.[17]
After the controversial and much-publicized 1992 execution ofDonald Eugene Harding, who took 10 and 1/2 minutes to die, the voters changed the method to lethal injection.[18] However, inmates convicted for capital crimes committed prior to November 23, 1992, may choose gas inhalation instead.[19][20] The last gas execution wasWalter LaGrand on March 3, 1999.
The 2014 botchedexecution of Joseph Wood lead to a moratorium of executions until July 2019.[20] The state switched drugs fromMidazolam toPentobarbital.[21][22]
The most recent execution in Arizona was that ofRichard Djerf on October 17, 2025.[23]
Since 1992, Arizona has employedlethal injection for its executions.[24]
Until 2010, Arizona usedsodium thiopental as the primary drug in its execution protocol until the drug stopped being commercially available and the state explored usingmidazolam.[25]
In 2011, the state was found to be lawfully buying execution drugs from Dream Pharma, a pharmaceutical company operating out of a driving school in west London, UK.[26]
In 2015, Arizona illegally tried to import sodium thiopental from India, but the shipment was seized by federal officials at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport.[27]
In October 2019, Arizona's department of corrections paid $1.5m to a confidential source for 1,000 1g vials of pentobarbital.[28] In a 2024 episode ofLast Week Tonight, comedianJohn Oliver claimed that Arizona had acquired the drugs from the Connecticut chemical companyAbsolute Standards.[29]
All executions are performed in the Central Unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence in Florence, Arizona. Arizona's death row for men is located in the Rincon Unit at Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson. Female inmates on Death Row are housed at the Lumley Unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville, near Goodyear, Arizona.