24 The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area withdraw from the European Convention. Given these recent developments, it is worth considering the possibility of reintroducing the death penalty in Poland, as well as the possible consequences of doing so. While the Protocols to the Covenant and to the Convention constitute international agreements, they are optional, and states, therefore, are not required to sign or ratify them. But since Poland has ratified Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention, it is obliged to fulfill its provisions, which provide the highest standard in terms of the protection of human life of all the international agreements that are binding for Poland. As Articles 1-5 of Protocol No. 6 are considered additional provisions of the European Convention (due to Article 6 of Protocol No. 6), reintroducing the death penalty in Poland would mean withdrawing not only from Protocol No. 6 but also from the European Convention. And that would have negative consequences for Poland’s membership in the European Union. The European Court of Justice has repeatedly confirmed the fundamental importance of the European Convention for all member states. Moreover, even without ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the reintroduction of the death penalty would breach the provisions of the Covenant. The Human Rights Committee has interpreted para. 2 of Article 6 of the Covenant as a prohibition on reintroducing the death penalty “in countries which have abolished the death penalty”. Accordingly, if the death penalty has been abolished, it may not be reintroduced. Another issue that has come up during discussions about the possible reintroduction of the death penalty in Poland is the question of whether the Constitution would allow the restoration of capital punishment in the Polish legal system or whether it would be necessary to first amend the Constitution. Constitutional-law experts are divided on this matter, but the prevailing opinion is that Article 38 of the Constitution makes the reintroduction of the death penalty impossible since it guarantees protection of the life of every human being. The issue of the death penalty has always provoked a lively public reaction. Emotions are particularly strong after the disclosure of a brutal murder. And this is also when supporters of the death penalty argue, contrary to the findings of criminological research, that capital punishment is the most efficient means of deterring people from committing crimes, and they suggest that the introduction of capital punishment would reduce the crime rate. The research conducted regularly by CBOS (Public Opinion Research Centre) shows that, in the last two decades, the majority of Polish society has supported the death penalty and that this number is growing. In 2004, 77 per cent of people polled declared that they were in favour of capital punishment.