Published: 2021-06-24

Theory and Practice in Poland’s Criminal Policy in the 1970s and ’80s

Emil W. Pływaczewski
Zeszyty Prawnicze
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2021.21.2.06

Abstract

The article addresses issues from the criminal policy Poland pursued in the 1970s and ’80s. In 1969 Sejm enacted a new criminal codification, including a Penal Code to replace the 1932 Penal Code. Te most disappointing part of the new Penal Code were the penalties. Penalisation was still kept unduly harsh and rigid, with imprisonment as the most frequently form of punishment. One of the innovations the Code adopted was a set of exceptionally stringent measures against recidivists. As the result of these amendments, which the courts duly implemented, there was a steep rise in the number of inmates held in Polish prisons. In the ’70s it fluctuated between 90 and 130 thousand, on average amounting to 235 in 100 thousand inhabitants. The figures for Poland were much higher than those for most other East European countries, let alone Western Europe. Te emergence of Solidarity in August 1980 turned out to be the beginning of the end for Soviet-style Communism. In 1981 strong criticism from experts on criminal law, who castigated Poland’s penal law and repressive criminal policy, led to the compilation of two drafts for a new penal code. In December 1981 the conflict between General Wojciech Jaruzelski’s Communist government and its (unrecognised) opposition culminated in the imposition of Martial Law, designed to crush the powerful opposition movement. Four years later, a draconian law was instituted, bringing in “special criminal liability”. Since 1987, Poland’s Codification Commission, which was re-constituted in 1989 following the Round Table Agreement concluded between the leaders of PZPR (the ruling Communist Party) and the opposition, has been working on new drafts of the penal code, the code of criminal procedure, and the code on the execution of penalties. Te new legislation, including a new penal code, was passed by Sejm in 1997, and entered into force on 1 September 1998. I conclude with a remark that the punitive character of the criminal justice system Poland inherited from the Communist system is still exerting a considerable influence on the country’s current policy on criminal justice, and is still contributing to problems with reducing the prison population.

Keywords:

criminal law; criminal policy; theory and practice; crime prevention; penal law reform.

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Citation rules

Pływaczewski, E. W. (2021). Theory and Practice in Poland’s Criminal Policy in the 1970s and ’80s. Zeszyty Prawnicze, 21(2), 115–141. https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2021.21.2.06

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