When you read 5.3.0 User documentation you have many screenshots of the jBPM console (12.2.1.1. Inspecting process definitions and in Figure 3.2 of 3.5. 10-Minute Tutorial: Using the jBPM Console) where you can see under the "Processes" Section that there are two options : Process Overview and another one above named "Execution History".

As Maciej said on jBPM5 User Forum :
"Execution History it used to be there but it was more inherited from v4 and did not fit properly into what was there when v5 took over it. So for now there is no way of browsing execution history directly in console."

It would be a good thing for next user documentation in 2012 october to update the screenshots so that jBPM5 Users cannot imagine anything about an option that is not supposed to exist anymore in jBPM5 releases !