How did Nikita Khrushchev change Soviet legal policies after Stalin’s death?

Following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev initiated a period of reform known as de-Stalinization, which sought to address the most severe abuses of the previous regime and restore a sense of "socialist legality".12

Key changes to Soviet legal policies under Khrushchev included:

• Rehabilitation: Many individuals who had been unjustly condemned to forced-labour camps were formally rehabilitated.1
• Legal Framework: Khrushchev promised a return to Leninist principles and established new legal foundations, including a union law for the Procuracy in 1955 and a decree in 1956, which aimed to define the role of the state in ensuring administrative legality.13
• Political Climate: His administration allowed for greater freedom of speech compared to the Stalin era and attempted to decentralize the regulation of the economy.1
• Condemnation of Abuses: At the 20th Party Congress in 1956, Khrushchev formally condemned the crimes committed under Stalin and dismantled the cult of personality that had previously shielded the leadership from accountability.2

These reforms represented a significant shift away from the arbitrary terror of the 1930s, though the legal system remained an instrument of the Communist Party.13