The History of Capital Punishment in Hungary

Abstract

It was nearly 30 years ago when the last death penalty was executed in Hungary. In the second half of the twentieth century executions were implemented only in exceptional cases. However, barely two hundred years before, 180 committed offenses were punished by death, sometimes in the most brutal way with the aim of deterrence. The methods of execution and torture changed according to the criminal policy decisions of the period. The last executed death penalty in July 1988 closed a period; however, a lot of controversial (legal, ethnic, theological and social) issues remain unresolved.