Archiwum Kryminologii (Archives of Criminology)

5-22

Authors: Edyta Drzazga

Cultural criminology which emerged in the 1990s, based on new criminology of Taylor, Walton, Young, and the achievements of National Defiance Conference and British studies of subcultures, can be regarded as part of the critical approach to the phenomenon of crime. Since it first appeared, cultural criminology has tried to adjust the point of view on crime by engaging various perspectives. By principle, cultural criminology is supposed to challenge conventional criminology and provide a distinguishable alternative. Its distinctive features are emphasis on cultural components (i.e. style, symbols, meanings, emotions and media information) in investigating the phenomenon of crime and use of postmodernist interpretation in the analyses. Cultural criminology, by placing crime and crime control in the context of culture and regarding them as cultural products, focuses on the way in which social actors – all potential participants to the phenomenon of crime, i.e. offenders, victims, organs of social control, journalists and reporters – construe meaning and attribute it to delinquency, act of crime and each other. One of the key problems of cultural criminology is critical reflection on the postmodern world, that is a world in constant flux, marked with the processes of marginalisation and social exclusion but also ambiguous potential of creativity, transcendence, and transgression. In a series of conceptions, one can find references to such symptoms of postmodernism like, on one hand, consumerism fuelled by the media, imperative of expressiveness and ever increasing significance of personal development, on the other hand decreasing job security and family ties stability, pluralism of values enhanced by migration and global conflicts. What results from the clash of these opposite forces is increasing loss of sense of security of the a modern man and in collective categories, loss of public confidence. The vision of society assumed by cultural criminology is a society based on conflict, and all explanations of subcultures must include current relations of power and patterns of social inequality. At the same time, accepting M. Weber’s statement that culture is a network of meanings which are continuously created by a man and in which a man is suspended, it is postulated to seek these meanings by interpretation. Such assumptions concerning culture and means of its examination, along with the conflict-based vision of society, puts cultural criminology at the charge of combining various methods of explanation assumed by social sciences. In ethnographic studies in the area of cultural criminology the pursue of meaning by thorough exploration of cultural practices is reserved only for deviant subcultures. The world of social control is labelled with terms in line with conflict orientations in criminology.

45-80

Authors: Andrzej Siemaszko, Dagmara Woźniakowska-Fajst, Beata Gruszczyńska, Marek Marczewski, Paweł Ostaszewski

The phenomenon of stalking had not been studied extensively and the real scale, its forms, and consequences had remained unknown. For this reason, in December 2009, the Minister of Justice requested the Institute of Justice to conduct a research concerning stalking. It was performed by TNS OBOP in December last year on a representative, random sample of households. Over 10 thousand respondents were questioned in computer assisted telephone interviews. This is ten times more than in typical public opinion polls which undoubtedly increases credibility of the results. Every tenth respondent (9,9%) appeared to have experience stalking. This is more than expected. It these results were to be extrapolated on the whole Polish population over 18 (and there are significant ground for such extrapolation as the sample was representative), it could be estimated that as much as 3 million of adult Poles have experienced stalking. In almost half of the cases, stalking happened repeatedly and 80% of victims experienced stalking within past five years. On the average, stalking lasted for less than a year, most often from a week to three months, but as much as 15% of victims were stalked for at least three years. Every fifth person declared they are still stalked at the moment. The most common methods of stalking were: spreading slander, lies and gossip (70% of responses), getting in touch with the aid of third parties (55%), threats or blackmail and “telephone persecution” (almost half of responses). Every third victim indicated also accosting or threatening family members, physical stalking (persistent following) and unwanted correspondence. It needs to be emphasised that stalking most often appeared in more than one form at a time (e.g. following – phone calls - getting in touch with the aid of third parties). As much as three quarters of victims regarded staling as serious, one third as very serious. These extremely high percentages prove that stalking is a considerable problem – almost a social one. This is confirmed by its effects declared by respondents. Almost 70% of victims experienced negative effects of stalking. More than a half reported psychological problems (depressed mood or depression, anxiety) every fourth physical ones (pains, aches, nausea, eating disorders). Because of these, 45% of the victims sought medical consultation which proves how serious the problems were. One third of the harmed declared financial or general consequences (cost of legal fees, need to change their lifestyle, change of telephone number, sometimes even change of residence). Although as expected most perpetrators were persons known by the victims (a current or ex-partner in every fourth case), a significant number of strangers needs to be reported (one quarter). Almost 40% of stalking victims asked for help, out of which only a half to prosecution organs – this is as little as 20%.

157-203

Authors: Piotr Stępniak

The article discusses the question about a functional model of family guardianship, shaped in practice by provisions of act of 27 July 2001 on court guardians and probation officers. It has been eight years since the act was passed. It is a time long enough to critically review how provisions of the said act function in practice and to evaluate if they have a positive influence on the model of family guardianship. While formulating assumptions to the empirical study of these problems, it was accepted that the model of guardianship can be determined by the method of guardians’ work. The method varies according to if a guardian is a professional guardian or a social worker. The method is also determined by the personal characteristics of a minor, their family situation and environment. The way of supervision over minors is another factor determining a guardian’s work. Polish guardianship is partly professional and partly social service . It results from the act of 27 July 2001 on court guardians and probation officers. Verification how the model assumptions are realised in practice was the first stage of the research. Subsequent stages included research on differences in task performance by professional and social guardians, and in the way of supervision. The study was conducted between March 2008 and November 2009. Guarded minors, their parents were questioned in a questionnaire, guardians themselves were interview. Moreover, court files of guardianships in question were examined. 292 questionnaires were distributed among randomly selected minors supervised by guardians from District Court in Poznań. Out the number of questionnaires 225 could be used. Court files of the minors who returned their questionnaires were examined. The study included 102 professional and 123 social guardians. Data obtained from questionnaires were verified against 45 interviews with professional and 50 social guardians from the District Court in Poznań. The final stage was statistical analysis of the obtained results. The analysis of the professional / social model of guardianship was based on statistics and official documents. They prove that the model, contrary to premises of the act of 27 July 2001 is still rather a social / professional one. As of the end of 2008, there were 2,726 professional and 13,428 social guardians. In the light of the above, it was interesting to compare the methods of work of both groups, particularly methods of their supervision. The comparison can be summarised as follows: 1. Analysis of time spent over activities and the proportion of supervision of minors in the total work time leads to a conclusion that no activity was a predominant one in either of the groups. Guardians’ work cannot be categorised as exclusively educational, controlling, assisting or administrational, it has rather a mixed character.

223-248

Authors: Joanna Sochacka

The current form of the phenomenon termed stadium hooliganism differs substantially to the form characteristic of 1960-1970s, and even 1980s. This is, on one hand, a result of change in deviant behaviour of spectators, on the other hand a result of material change in what behaviours are labelled, and thus controlled, by the state. While initially hooliganism consisted in acts of violence and vandalism on stadiums and in their immediate vicinity, deviant behaviours of spectators fundamentally changed with time. Re-design of stadiums, introduction of exclusively numbered seats and tickets, spectator video surveillance, ticket sale control systems, and many other technical measures to eliminate the sense of anonymity in the football fans – along with extension of the catalogue of football-related behaviours which are criminalised – resulted in relative safety of European, and to less extent Polish, stadiums. This resulted in transfer of deviant behaviour of spectators outside stadiums. At present, two types of behaviours are commonly considered in relation to stadium hooliganism. First, all deviant behaviours of (some) spectators manifested on the stadium or in its immediate vicinity in strict temporal and spatial relation to a match. Second, all other deviant behaviours of (some) spectators manifested outside stadiums and in less and less strict temporal, emotional and spatial relation to a sport event. Until 1985 penal policy towards stadium hooliganism – on the tier of national regulations, international cooperation, legal acts by European organs and UEFA – was surprisingly uniform in perception of the phenomenon as a social problem which does not require any particular methods or measure of control and which does not require any particular legislation. 1985 was a turning point as far as legal position of the phenomenon is concerned. Accepting in Strasbourg on 19 August 1985 the European Convention on Spectator Violence and Misbehaviour at Sports Events and in particular at Football Matches by Council of Europe initiated an entirely new approach to the policy of prevention of the phenomenon. Since 1985, legal acts concerning stadium hooliganism have been passed both on national and international level. Stadium hooliganism was termed a serious social problem in the area of public order solution of which requires introduction and implementation of particular legal regulations and particular methods of supervision and control. Including stadium hooliganism into the category of social phenomena which carry a risk for functioning of the society as a whole, such as terrorism, delinquency of immigrants, juvenile delinquency or drug addiction is an effect of wider transformations in European penal policy which have been present since the end of 1970s. This is related to emergence of strong tendencies towards politicisation of internal security issues at the time.

275-326

Authors: Paweł Bachmat

The article is a result of file examination and attempts to characterise acts related to trading in influence and their criminal evaluation formulated by the courts of law in their final sentences. The empirical basis of the research are 123 criminal proceedings which resulted in valid sentences concerning passive and active trading in influence (articles 230 , and article 231 of Polish Criminal Code ). Analysed proceedings were from across the country and were decided between 1 January 2004 and 1 November 2006. The research investigated not only the court files but also public prosecution files. No files on cases discontinued or dismissed under articles providing for the indemnity of the perpetrator who informs of the crime (article 17 of Criminal Proceeding Code under article 230a of the CC) were included. The file material contained predominantly cases of passive trading in influence (article 230 of CC) consisting in, to put it simply, an obligation to take care of a matter in a public institution in return for a bribe or a promise to do so. 92 such cases were reported, 109 persons trading in influence were accused. As a result of court decisions, 78 persons were found guilty, 5 acquitted, one found partially guilty (cleared of one charge but guilty of another), and 8 cases were dismissed on conditions. Cases of active trading in influence (article 230a of CC), that is the practice of paying for someone’s influence, were much less frequent. The files included only 31 such cases, with 57 accused for paying for trading in influence. 28 cases resulted in convictions and three were dismissed on conditions. Acquittals did not occur in this group of cases. Two basic areas of study were assumed. First, a case analysis of a corruption deed of trading in influence allowed to obtain the information necessary for drafting a profile of typical perpetrators, to identify their approach (pleading guilty/not guilty) and for drafting a profile of the act of corruption itself. The latter included investigation of the means of corruption, the initiator of the corruption proposal, a catalogue of matters (contract, document, permission etc.) to be paid for, and institutions whose operation was to be interfered by trading in influence. Corruption act profile included also an attempt to investigate the promised influence (own, third parties’, actual, fictitious) and its source (family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, other) which the passive perpetrators referred to and which the active perpetrators sought. Second, the study analysed application of provisions defining the features of the crime (articles 230 and 230a of CC). The analysis included the practice of applying the said provisions by the prosecution and the courts, as they were obliged to interpret a deed for the purpose of proceedings in legal terms and to qualify it according to provisions of law. Legitimacy of deed qualification was evaluated, particularly by the courts in their valid final verdicts.

345-378

Authors: Monika Płatek

According to government information from November 2010, only 8% of committed sex crimes are reported in Poland. In 90% of cases, the perpetrators remain unpunished. Taking into account the statistics for 2009, 6,700 cases of sexual violence show the scale of the problem. The article tries to investigate the reasons of such situation. How does it happen that in a legal order, which since 1932 is based on extremely modern approach to the crime of rape, it remains in practice so often unpunished? The reasons of this are seen in the accepted procedure of prosecution, on the motion of the injured. This procedure results from the fact that provisions from 1932 have been accepted as they were, without a deeper reflection or analysis of the state of affairs of the time. What was acceptable in the criminological-epistemological and dogmatic perspective then, has been accepted by the legislator at present. This leaves a question why regulations from 1932 are still in force at present, with the detriment to the victims. In seeking an answer to this question, a methodology provided by feminist jurisprudence is assumed. The text also explains the very notion of feminist jurisprudence and gender analysis of law. The method allows to notice the elements earlier neglected by the law and to explain why corruption of the perpetrator reaches the victim. The development of feminist jurisprudence over the past three decades has contributed to significant enrichment of the theory of law in many countries and has led to many reforms of criminal law, including changes to the regulations concerning the rape of crime. Taking feminist criminology and feminist jurisprudence into account allows to consider the causes of placing joint responsibility for rape on a victim. It allows to demonstrate that what is hidden under the euphemism of morals and morality is also supported by laws and does not result from tradition as much as from the influence of contemporary law. The accepted procedure of prosecution of the crime is a significant element of this process. Assuming a gender perspective introduces a perspective of experiences and values essential for women to the analysis of language, evaluation and events, although it is not limited to this. The text, while analysing the determinants of regulations concerning rape, questions the basic axioms of criminal law dogma pertaining to neutrality and objectivity of criminal law. The example of regulations on rape proves that both axioms in fact sustain a loss to the benefit of the interest of the legislator who has a greater tendency to identify with a perpetrator than with a victim. The text analyses various perspectives of justifying accepted norms and indicates that higher arguments at each time serve to justify current interests. Using instruments of gender analysis of law here as well, reader’s attention is drawn to the perspective resulting from the experiences and values presented by women.

403-412

Authors: Agnieszka Gutkowska

The article is concerned with selected rules of Islamic penal law. Such a discussion seems necessary (though naturally not sufficient) to attempt to answer the question about the best model of coexistence of sometimes drastically different cultural and normative systems in modern multicultural world. The choice of sharia is justified if we take into account that according to demographic data there are over 38 million of Muslim people living now in Europe. Without a doubt, such a situation may be a challenge because sharia explicitly states that observing laws in the country of residence (kanun) is a duty of every Muslim believer – however provided that the laws do not contradict sharia. There is one striking example of coexistence of different normative systems in Europe. The United Kingdom is the only European country so far which has decided to include Islamic laws in its legal system. Muslim citizens, if they are willing to, can decide property, inheritance, and family disputes in sharia courts and their decisions are recognised by the state. A conscious decision on integration of legal systems should rely on a deeper understanding of the legal system to be integrated into the current one. Understanding sharia requires, first of all, being aware that in the legal culture of Islam there is no division into secular and religious sphere. Hence, the common European perception of sharia as religious law must be considered a mistake. Sharia distinguishes two spheres: ibadat and mu’amalat. Ibadat, that is acts of faith, is the branch of law comprising religious duties of Muslim people. As a rule, breach of ibadat results with punishment in earthly life. Mu’amalat, that is transactions, contains provisions concerning interpersonal relations and protection of five basic human needs: life, religion, family life, property, feelings, and intellect. Yet, it cannot be said that ibadat is religious while mu’amalat is secular law. Together they form sharia and, what is more, they both contain penal provisions. In sharia, penal law is not a separate branch of law and both rules of penal law and sentence administration appear in both branches of sharia. Crime in Islamic law is always a detriment to the society as it infringes social order, God’s order, is a sacrilege (as it is a human infringement of divine rules), and a source of corruption for others. Classification of crimes in sharia is also entirely different from the western one. The basic criterion is the grounds for punishment and crimes are classified as punishable as hudud, kisas (or dijja), and ta’zir. Distinction between deeds punishable under Qur’an (hudud and kisas) and deeds punishable under customary law (ta’zir) is specific for Islamic law. While considering issues related to Islamic penal law, one cannot stop at the literal interpretation of sources of law.