Criminal law (Poland)

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This article deals with the criminal law of the Republic of Poland .

Legal sources

Polish criminal law is composed of two main laws, one in the Criminal Code (Kodeks Karny) and the Criminal Procedure Code (Kodeks postępowania karnego) . There are also a number of ancillary laws, the most important of which are the Administrative Offenses Act (Kodeks wykroczeń) and the Act on the Criminal Responsibility of Corporations (Ustawa o odpowiedzialności podmiotów zbiorowych za czyny zabronione pod groźbą kary) . The juvenile justice (Ustawa o w postępowaniu sprawach nieletnich), regulates the handling of youth items. Further special laws can be found in environmental criminal law and in commercial company law, with the generally recognized rules on criminal offenses and administrative offenses being applied. The standard of application and higher-ranking law is the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) . The so-called administrative criminal law, under which administrative authorities are allowed to sanction unlawful behavior, has found greater application in recent years.

Kodeks Karny - Criminal Code

In September 1932 the first modern Polish penal code, based on the Swiss model, was passed. Under the leadership of Juliusz Makarewicz, it made a significant contribution to overcoming the legal fragmentation in the Second Republic . At the same time, the laws of German, Austrian and Russian origin that went back to the partitions of Poland were replaced. The current Criminal Code came into force on June 6, 1997. Its final version was the result of a great Reformation process in which the penal code from 1969 was substantially revised.

The Criminal Code is divided into three areas, a general part in the section of Art. 1-116, a special part in the section Art. 117-316, and a military part, Art. 317-363.

The general part is divided into:

  • Basics of criminal liability Art. 1-12
  • Forms of commission Art. 25-31
  • Exclusion of criminal liability Art. 25-31
  • Penalties Art. 32 - 38
  • Penalties Art. 39-52
  • Settlement of sentences Art. 53-63
  • Relapse Art. 64-65
  • Probation measures Art. 66-84
  • Coincidence and combination of criminal offenses Art. 85-92
  • Security measures Art. 93-100
  • Statute of limitations Art. 101-105
  • Erasure of the conviction Art. 106-108
  • Criminal liability for offenses committed abroad Art. 109-114

The individual criminal offenses are located in the special section and are structured as follows:

  • Offenses against peace and against humanity and war crimes, Art. 117-126, Chapter XVI
  • Offenses against the Republic of Poland, Art. 127-139, Chapter XVII
  • Offenses against national defense, Art. 140-147, Chapter XVIII
  • Offenses against life and limb, Art. 148-162, Chapter XIX
  • Crimes against general security, Art. 163-172, Chapter XX
  • Offenses against the safety of traffic, Art. 173-180, Chapter XXI
  • Offenses against the environment, Art. 181-188, Chapter XXII
  • Offenses against personal freedom, Art. 189-193, Chapter XXIII
  • Offenses against freedom of conscience and belief, Art. 194-196, Chapter XXIV
  • Offenses against sexual self-determination, Art. 197-205, Chapter XXV
  • Crimes against the family and custody, Art. 206-211, Chapter XXVI
  • Offenses against honor and physical integrity, Art. 212-217, Chapter XXVII
  • Crimes against workers' rights, Art. 218-221, Chapter XXVIII
  • Offenses against the activity of the institution of the state and territorial self-government, Art. 222-231, Chapter XXIX
  • Offenses against the administration of justice, Art. 232-247, Chapter XXX
  • Offenses against elections and referendums, Art. 248-251, Chapter XXXI
  • Offenses against public order, Art. 252-264, Chapter XXXII
  • Indiscretion offenses, Art. 265-269, Chapter XXXIII
  • Document offenses, Art. 270-277, Chapter XXXIV
  • Offenses against property, Art. 278-295, Chapter XXXV
  • Offenses against the economy, Art. 296-309, Chapter XXXVI
  • Offenses against money and securities transactions Art. 310-316, Chapter XXXVII

Basics of criminal liability

Basic principles

Polish criminal law follows the principles of nullum crime sine lege poenali anteriori and nulla poena sine lege . These principles are set out in Art. 1 § 1 StGB as well as in Art. 42 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland . The principle of guilt nullum crmie sine culpa is regulated in Art. 1 § 3 StGB.

Social harm

An “upstream” prerequisite for a criminal offense is the principle of social harm, which is not known in German law (nullum crimen sine periculo sociali). Accordingly, the character and type of the violated legal interest, the extent of threatened and caused damage, the type and circumstances of the commission of the offense, the weight and significance of the obligations violated by the perpetrator, his motives for the act, the form of his are decisive for the socially harmful nature of an act Intent and the type of due diligence rules violated and the degree of their violation, Art. 115 § 2. In the case of a minor socially harmful nature of the act, classification as a criminal offense is excluded. According to Art. 66 § 1, the court can conditionally suspend the criminal proceedings if the guilt of the perpetrator and the socially harmful nature of the criminal are insignificant. Furthermore, the principle of social harm must be observed when determining the sentence in accordance with Art. 53 § 1.

Criminal offense

Polish criminal law does not rule on the illegality of certain types of behavior. Rather, the task is to determine whether illegal behavior is punishable. According to this, Polish criminal law understands an act as a qualified form of human behavior in which the will of the agent is realized. No action, in the sense of criminal law, is therefore present when the body of the agent acts on its surroundings without willful activity. The more detailed distinction which action results in a criminal law qualification is regulated in the individual facts and also depends on which legal asset is specifically at risk. A legal good is, in turn, a good which, in the opinion of the legislature, is assigned a social value and which is protected from attack by punishment.

literature

Textbooks

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Kodeks karny, Criminal Code of 6 June 1997, German translation and introduction of Weigend, The Polish Criminal Code / codecs karny, Freiburg 1998th
  2. Kodeks postępowania karnego from June 6, 1997.
  3. Ustawa-Kodeks wykroczeń
  4. ↑ Entered into force on November 27, 2003.
  5. Not to be confused with German law on administrative offenses
  6. Kodeks karny, Criminal Code of April 19, 1969.
  7. Buchala / Zoll, Kodeks karny, comments on Art. 115 § 2 StGB
  8. ^ Marek, p. 97, Prawo Karne
  9. Wolter, p. 41, Nauka o przestepstwie, 1973.