The Abolition of the Death Penalty in the USSR in 1947: Domestic Political Conjuncture

The entire history of discourse about the necessity of the death penalty inevitably raised questions of political power, as decisions about its use were formed, primarily, in the depths of governing elites of the country and were adopted either by someone alone or a group of people in the backroom. In this regard, this is article focused on the theoretical-conceptual and historical and scientific understanding of the question on the abolition of the death penalty related to internal and foreign political situation of the period under consideration. The article deals with the question of abolishing the death penalty in the Soviet Union after World War II in the context of the current debate about the necessity of lifting the moratorium on capital punishment in the Russian Federation. We consider the practical feasibility of the solutions. Postulated the thesis that the abolition of the death penalty may be politically opportunistic making that drives the legal aspects of the issue of the death penalty under political circumstances. The article can be used when conducting research in the area of the enforcement of the criminal proceedings, within the institutional history of the death penalty abolition, as well as in contemporary Russian debates about the place of criminal justice in Soviet legal space.