In the early 1980's, debate about the necessity of the abolition of capital punishment concluded that the death penalty is a necessary but undesirable type of punishment and that as penal sanctions develop, it will be abolished at some future time. The author is head of the department at the Faculty of Law at Eotvos Lorand University and a member of the League Against the Death Penalty founded in 1989. The author has had an active role in abolishing capital punishment in Hungary. 10 references (Publisher abstract modified)