Wykonywanie kary śmierci w czasach Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej – analiza wybranych przykładów
Performing the Death Penalty in the Polish People’s Republic – an Analysis of Selected Examples

Summary/Abstract: This text is devoted to selected issues related to adjudicating and carrying out the death penalty in the times of the Polish People's Republic. This penalty was allowed by the Penal Code of 1969. In the current Penal Code (i.e. the one from 1997), this penal sanction is not provided for. Therefore, the selected topic fits into the theme of the journal on the history of law and modern law with a clear historical context. Removing the death penalty seems to be a very big change when it comes to the Polish criminal law. The aim of the article is to familiarize the reader with the legal provisions regarding the death penalty in the times of the Polish People's Republic and the realities of its adjudication and execution. Thanks to the use of the research method consisting in the analysis of legal acts, the researchers found the answers to the following research questions: which crimes resulted in the death penalty, what legal acts provided for such a possibility, and what the procedure was like under the provisions of the Executive Penal Code of 1969. Further on, the researchers used the method of analyzing the literature on the subject. The sources included books and magazine articles on specific topics, documentaries, and Internet sources deemed reliable. The main part of the text is a criminological analysis of three selected criminal cases. They were considered the most interesting in the context of the discussed topic. The descriptions of the criminal Polish People's Republic are intended to supplement the theoretical information obtained by means of the two methods mentioned above. In addition, they will allow the reader to move to those realities.

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