Arkansas
Eyewitness Identification Reform
In 2012, the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police (AACP) released a model policy for eyewitness identification procedures. The model policy includes: blind administration, proper use of fillers, proper instructions to the witness, and witness confidence statements. The AACP policy also includes procedure for show up identifications. Adopted: 2012.
Recording of Interrogations
Arkansas has no state law requiring recorded interrogations.
Post Conviction DNA Testing
Any person convicted of a crime may file a petition for post-conviction DNA testing with the court where the conviction occurred. There is no time limitation. However, the person can't apply when a direct appeal is available. Effective: 2001; Amended most recently: 2005.
Evidence Preservation
State statute requires the automatic preservation of any physical evidence upon a person’s conviction for a sex offense, violent offense, or a felony where the defendant's DNA is taken for the state's database. Law enforcement will preserve this evidence permanently following any conviction for a violent offense, 25 years following a conviction for a sex offense, or 7 years following a conviction for any other felony for which the defendant's genetic profile may be taken by a law enforcement agency and submitted for a comparison to the state DNA database for unsolved offenses (whichever is longer). Effective 2001; Amended most recently 2011.
Arkansas's statute meets the best practices standards outlined by the NIST Technical Working Group on Biological Evidence Preservation.
Exoneree Compensation
Arkansas has no exoneree compensation law.