Archiwum Kryminologii (Archives of Criminology)

5-13

Authors: Irena Rzeplińska

It has been for several decades now that criminological literature has addressed the issue of crime prevention in societies. Helena Kołakowska-Przełomiec argued in 1984: “While trying to formulate a definition of crime prevention, on no account should we disregard the fact that a criminal offence may be committed only by an individual who lives in a certain specific setting, in a society. Crime prevention can therefore be associated with the conditions of the external world in which a person lives, the constraints of social interactions, interpersonal relations, as well as with the person’s own identity, selfdevelopment, lifetime experience, attitudes, aspirations, and the scope of individual activities. Accordingly, crime prevention may be associated with all that effectively makes up the fabric of an outside world in which the person lives, with the overall diversity of human activity, groups of people, and individuals. Indeed, such activity may be closely linked to crime prevention, or only indirectly related to it, or it may also be very far removed from crime prevention. Crime prevention may also exist objectively, without any human activity linked to it whatsoever (e.g. in a mountainous area devoid of roads it is effectively impossible to commit traffic offences).” The author formulated the following definition: “crime prevention is construed as any and all actions which might lead, be that directly or indirectly, to inhibiting the incidence of criminality at large, of criminal offences, and the development of criminal phenomena all over the world.” Ten years later, another definition of crime prevention was proposed by Janina Czapska: “crime prevention should to be construed as all measures aimed at reducing the overall crime incidence and load, either by limiting the circumstances conducive to committing criminal offences, or by exerting an impact on a potential perpetrator, as well as on all members of a society.” In a document of 2002 promulgated by the UN Economic and Social Council, crime prevention is construed as a set of policies and measures that “seek to reduce the risk of crimes occurring, and their potential harmful effects on individuals and society, including the fear of crime.” Modern Europe is a world of people who keep migrating, moving between countries. The presence of foreign nationals (i.e. those who are not the nationals of a particular country) in each of the EU Member States is a natural phenomenon, as they are the EU citizens and the third-country nationals. Criminal offences committed by foreign nationals are also natural enough, from random offences to fully premeditated ones, from minor offences to serious crimes, from common offences to criminal offences specific to foreign nationals in a particular country and during a specific period, committed under certain social, economic and political conditions. In Poland, police crime statistics have taken due note of foreign nationals as suspects since 1984. The proportion of foreign nationals to suspects in total in the period spanning 1984–1988 ranged from 0.1% to 0.5%. This proportion increased throughout the 1990s, from 0.8 in 1991 to 1.8% in 1996, and then to 2.02% in 1997. A decrease in this proportion was noted – 1.6% in 1998, 1.3% in 2000, 0.67% in 2004, and 0.43% in 2012. Foreign nationals suspected of committing criminal offences in Poland in the first decade of the 21st century come from 61 countries. 30% of them are EU citizens. The most numerous are citizens of Germany, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Foreign nationals from non-EU countries constitute 70% of all foreign national suspects, among which the most numerous come from the neighbouring countries: Ukraine, Belarus, the Russian Federation and Armenia. In short, foreign nationals suspected of committing criminal offences in Poland originate from the neighbouring countries: Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Lithuania, and Russia. The overall picture of criminal offences committed by foreign nationals in Poland in the first decade of the 21st century is as follows: a negligible share of foreign suspects in the human crime category, a high proportion in the specific offences category, i.e. driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, whereupon, in the absence of a natural person victim, the only ‘aggrieved’ party is public order, i.e. road traffic safety. The high share of foreign suspects in the offences against the credibility of documents means that foreign nationals who hold residence in Poland, or who enter Poland, make use of forged IDs or travel documents. The overall picture that emerges from the police crime statistics still needs to be supplemented by such rare events as terrorist crime, crime committed in organized groups, or hard to detect crimes, e.g. illegal cigarette or illicit drug manufacturing. In line with the definitions cited above, with regard to each particular type of criminal offence committed by foreign nationals, an appropriate strategy needs to be determined. In each individual case and for each type of crime a separate listing of crime risk factors should be compiled. Smuggling (duly registered by the Customs Service) seems one of the ‘favourite’ types of a criminal offence committed by foreign nationals in Poland (even though Polish nationals also perpetrate this kind of crime). Smuggling takes place both at border crossings and elsewhere, along usually rather desolate, woodland areas straddling a state border, not subject to heavy patrolling by border guard troops. Moving contraband across the border stands to bring substantial profits to all parties involved. In 96% of cases, the contraband commodity of choice are the tobacco products. Foreign nationals are also registered in Poland as the perpetrators of business-related crimes: criminal offences aimed at obtaining material benefits at the expense of other parties involved in business activity. Judicial statistics indicate that foreign nationals are convicted for breaching the Industrial Property Act, including its provisions pertaining to trademark protection, followed by offences under the Copyright and Related Rights Act; here, for the most part, crimes involve illicitly replicated software, music, and movies on the market. The perpetrators of these offences are mostly Bulgarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Armenian, Slovakian, and Georgian citizens. In the area of business crime, organized criminal groups appear to dominate. As may be gleaned from the case records, most groups dealt with violations of the trademark protection provisions, copyright, money counterfeiting, capital fraud, including bank loan fraud, offences related to ATM cards and Internet accounts, followed by insurance fraud and the offences related to trading in liquid fuels. The groups comprised criminals from nearly 20 nationalities, mostly from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, and Armenia, and less frequently the citizens of the UK, Vietnam, China, Moldova, and Georgia. In the period spanning 2015–2016, a brand-new type of crime was uncovered, i.e. professionally organized illicit manufacture of cigarettes in Poland. The report on the status of national security in Poland for 2014 draws attention to the involvement of foreign nationals in criminal activities. Tax fraud committed by foreign nationals from EU countries appears to be on the rise. Foreigners register business ventures in Poland and then proceed to abuse the Polish tax system with a view to benefiting from undue VAT refunds. Combating business crime, as referenced in the Report, requires fostering closer cooperation between various departments, authorities, and statutory bodies involved in preventing and combating crime. This approach has already spawned a government programme for the prevention and combating business crime for 2015–2020, in which the key principles of the actual action plan have been laid down. Research on organized crime groups, including those involving foreign nationals, reveals that all groups intended to profit from criminal activities, were managed by strong leaders, with ethnicity being of much lesser importance in their operations. They are mobile, moving both across the territory of Poland and beyond its borders. Organized crime groups involving foreign nationals are multi-disciplinary; they are involved in drug-related offences, business crime, and other types of criminal pursuits. Variability in the actual type of criminal activity pursued is always dictated by the principal objective – the achievement of material gain. Prevention and combating terrorist threats in Poland is provided for in the National Counter-Terrorism Programme for 2015–2019. There is no single system for preventing and combating crimes committed by foreign nationals, and hence we are not going to formulate its objectives here. Prevention, i.e. the identification of risk factors for criminal offences committed by foreigners, may be pursued in relation to a particular type of crime committed at any one time (types of criminal offences vary over time). Combating or controlling the criminal behaviours of foreign nationals, to express it in modern lingo, may be pursued through obtaining adequate insight into the actual aetiology of various kinds of criminal offences committed by foreign nationals, and an appropriate penal policy.

29-59

Authors: Sebastian Wojciechowski

Terrorism is one of the biggest problems in today’s world and one that, to a greater or lesser extent, continues to evolve. This evolution is true of many aspects, including terrorist tactics and strategy as well as types of terrorist threats. The global and destructive reach of terrorism is clearly reflected in different comparative studies. For example, data gathered by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) indicate that there were over 150,000 terrorist attacks around the world between 1970 and 2015. These attacks were carried out in over 100 countries, most of them, however, in Afghanistan, Iraq Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria. In recent years, the force driving the escalation of terrorist activity was initially Al- -Qaeda, followed by the Islamic State. ISIS combines features commonly attributed to terrorist organizations, criminal groups, states, terrorist networks, and military formations. Contrary to the common view, the Islamic State is not a state as defined in international law and practice. Although it has territory, a population, and authorities, it does not have the capacity to pursue international relations and does not meet the criterion of external sovereignty. Only a state fulfilling all of these conditions can rightly be called a state. Thus, in the case of ISIS, we can only talk of certain elements of statehood and not of a state proper, as understood in international law and relations. In 2015, the number of terrorist attacks around the globe dropped by 13% (from 13,463 in 2014 to 11,774 in 2015). A particularly sharp drop occurred in Pakistan (45%), Iraq (28%), and Nigeria (11%), whereas other countries witnessed a surge in the number of attacks. This was the case of Turkey (escalation by 353%), Bangladesh (270%), Egypt (69%) and Syria. Syria presents a particularly complex and alarming picture, with the number of terrorist attacks up by 65%, the number of people killed up by 62%, the number of those injured up by 91%, and the number of those kidnapped and held hostage up by 67%. In 2015, the number of people who lost their lives as a result of terrorism dropped by 14% (from 32,727 in 2014 to 28,328 in 2015). There was a rise in the number of people injured (2%) and kidnapped and held hostage by terrorists (29%). The latter phenomenon is particularly alarming since it indicates renewed terrorist interest in this form of activity. The purpose of the article is to answer the following research questions: What is terrorism? How can it be defined? What are its primary causes and features? What characterizes contemporary terrorist threats? What is the scale of global terrorism today? What led to the emergence and subsequent rapid rise of the Islamic State? How can terrorism be prevented and combated effectively? The author uses his own definition of terrorism. He defines terrorism as a variously motivated and implemented form of political and/or social violence (or threatening such violence) breaching the binding legal order, perpetrated by individuals or groups through different means and methods, leading to physical, psychological, or material damage. This form of violence has a direct target or targets (for example individuals representing a given state) or an indirect target through which the perpetrator wants to achieve his final purpose. This definition draws attention to a couple of important and universal features of terrorism. Firstly, it demonstrates the diversity of its causes (motives), spanning a wide range of factors that drive and escalate the phenomenon. Secondly, it highlights the fact that terrorist acts violate the law, resulting in a broad range of consequences. Thirdly, it stresses that terrorism (as people often mistakenly assume) encompasses not just the actions of groups, but also those of individuals. Fourthly, it points to the multiplicity and diversity of means and methods employed by terrorists. Religious, political, or ethnic reasons are not the sole driving forces behind terrorism, which springs from a combination of many different factors, including cultural, historical, psychological and socio-economic determinants – the latter often underestimated or overlooked. There is frequently a direct or indirect link between terrorism and poverty or other serious socio-economic problems observed in a given territory. This is reflected, inter alia, in the data published in the Global Terrorism Index 2015. This report indicates that in recent years, countries that have seen the steepest increase in the number of deaths due to terrorist attacks are largely poor ones, including Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Syria, and Somalia. Of course this does not mean that poverty or big social inequalities always lead to terrorism. They can, however, stoke up different extremist attitudes, including ones with ties to terrorism. This state of affairs is known as “fueling terror.” The paper highlights selected aspects of contemporary terrorism. Other important issues include the problem of terrorist financing, the consequences of terrorism, identifying real and potential perpetrators, the evolution of terrorist strategy and tactics as employed by “lone wolves,” suicide bombers, and women and children used to carry out attacks, links between migration and terrorism, etc. A comprehensive discussion of these topics requires a separate and much broader study. Such a study should be prepared by an interdisciplinary team of specialists bringing together not just security, but also legal, psychology, sociology or economic experts. Such a team should include both theorists and practitioners with wide-ranging experience in analyzing, eliminating, and forecasting terrorist threats.

93-111

Authors: Magdalena Perkowska

The paper aims to review the legal solutions, mainly within the statutory powers of the Border Guard (BG) services, meant to ensure an efficient system of combating and preventing border crime. Statutory powers and prerogatives vested in the Border Guard service are deemed sufficient in terms of implementing its statutory objectives. It is important that in dealing with illegal immigration BG officers have the right to carry out operational reconnaissance and a range of monitoring tasks. BG officers also regard their scope of statutory prerogatives as sufficient, which was corroborated by their opinions voiced during the interviews. The interviewees, officers on duty on both the Polish internal section of the EU border and the external EU border section, carrying out the actual checks at the border checkpoints, as well as serving in the operational and investigative division indicated that their present powers and prerogatives are sufficient and allow them to conduct the preliminary investigative proceedings effectively, as well as collect pertinent material evidence as needed. The author advocates establishing a special border checks regime at the Polish- -Lithuanian border, pursuant to the concept of EU border protection, as implied by the provisions of Article 67, Section 3, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, envisaging that the European Union shall endeavour to ensure a high level of security through appropriate crime-prevention measures, since Lithuania’s external borders appear to be insufficiently secured. In line with the concept of a bolishing internal border checks, most of the financial resources, including those originating in the aid funds designed to facilitate border security and prevent illegal migration, are allocated to the external borders. As far as the border section with Lithuania is concerned, more direct financial support should be allocated down there, with a view to facilitating the use of the latest technologies in the area of law enforcement and combating border crime beyond the border crossing itself. Besides, the appraisal of the situation on this section of the border, due to its particular status, leads to the conclusion that it would be prudent to collect statistical data on border crime along the Polish section of the EU inner border, whilst operationally dividing its length into the sections bordering with the respective EU countries. This would effectively reveal the scale and the actual dynamics of border crime along these sections, as well as facilitate preventing it more effectively. In view of the extensive use being routinely made of numerous documents like an invitation to trade cooperation, an invitation to a cultural event, etc. in order to obtain the Schengen visas, whereas in fact the true the purpose of entering the country is purely commercial, or for outright smuggling purposes, it might be prudent to consider issuing the singleentry visas. Since the ostensible purpose of a foreign national’s entry into the Schengen area, in conformity with his/her own declaration, is to attend a single cultural event or a single meeting, it is totally unjustified to grant him the permit to cross the border and stay abroad for 90 days within a half-year period. This would effectively allow to at least partially eliminate obtaining visas for other purposes than the declared ones. The introduction of the VIS system for the citizens of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine might well be deemed a success. The system will facilitate eliminating the practice of having one’s personal data altered and applying for brand new documents and brand new visas for persons already covered by a temporary ban on entry into Poland, as provided by Article 318 of the Foreign Nationals Act. In the author’s view, Poland should not yield under the barrage of complaints expressed by the visitors and continue to collect fingerprints upon the issuance of visas, and when crossing the state border. This facilitates the detection of offenders making use of the ‘look-alike’ method when passing through a border checkpoint and producing another person’s ID. The VIS system makes an essential contribution to combating illegal migration effectively.

125-139

Authors: Barbara Namysłowska-Gabrysiak

The study aims to address the various procedural measures whose development at different levels of national legislation, as well as at the institutional level of state law enforcement agencies, may contribute both to preventing and combating human trafficking more effectively. The overall effectiveness of prosecuting the actual perpetrators of this crime and effective protection of its victims depends primarily on adopting adequate legal instruments, and secondly, on the actual organization of work within the law enforcement bodies directly responsible for preventing and combating human trafficking, i.e. the State Prosecuting Service, the Police, and the Border Guard, whereas ensuring adequate protection of the victims also falls within the statutory remit of the judicial institutions, first and foremost, the common courts of law. With this in mind, the study discusses several select legal instruments pertaining to the prosecution of perpetrators and the system of victims protection, in conjunction with an assessment of their effective application in everyday practice. At the same time, the study attempts to address the proposed procedural measures deemed necessary to boost the overall effectiveness of the state law enforcement bodies in pursuing their statutory objectives with regard to human trafficking at large. Due to the space constraints, only those measures which are currently deemed to pose by far the biggest challenges, as well as those believed to create barriers to effective combating of human trafficking are addressed. In terms of the overall efficiency of the prosecution services, the present study discusses the results of other studies focused on practical application of the legal definition of human trafficking, as per the provisions of Article 189a, § 1 of the Polish Penal Code in conjunction with the provisions of Article 115, § 22 of the Polish Penal Code, as well as the actual modus operandi of the perpetrators, and also those favoured by various crime syndicates involved in human trafficking for business purposes. As far as the standards of victims protection are concerned, the study focuses on their presentation in terms of human rights, and the active obligation of the respective countries to ensure both legally and actually effective protection for the victims of this crime, in particular the standards applied to their identification, as strongly highlighted in the literature on the subject. Furthermore, the general body of knowledge and overall awareness of all state law enforcement agencies with regard to the individual components of human trafficking is also given due prominence. Those comprise, first and foremost, violence against women, secondary victimization, gender stigma, especially in the case of sexual exploitation, the overall cultural and social context, migration, and respective socio-economic status of the victims. Making the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary more aware of the existence of those components is essential to improving and enhancing their overall effectiveness in the pursuit of their statutory obligations, particularly with regard to ensuring that an effective system of victims protection is put in place.

161-173

Authors: Katarzyna Laskowska

The paper offers a synthetic insight into the activities of organized crime groups in Poland with foreign nationals as their members. All the relevant data were obtained from the staff officers of the Central Bureau of Police Investigation (CBSP), i.e. directly from the operatives involved in investigating such criminal structures. The interviews were conducted in February 2015, with the three officers serving in the three departments combating: organized crime, organized drug trafficking, and organized fraud, respectively. On the basis of those interviews, it was established that the structures of interest are formed either exclusively by foreign nationals, or by foreign nationals in association with their Polish peers. Some groups might be characterised by specific traits, e.g. organisational tightness, or excessive brutality. Some insight was also gained into the ways of recruitment to the organized crime groups involving foreigners, i.e. diversified ways of recruitment to the structures of different specialisations (crime, drugs, fraud). In due course, the most frequently committed types of criminal offences were identified, i.e. theft, drug production and trafficking, cigarette smuggling, VAT fraud, and money laundering. The study highlights the ‘attractiveness’ of particular offences to respective organized crime groups. It was also possible to gain an understanding of their modus operandi and organizational structuring (be that complex or simple), including consideration for their own security (i.e. making expert use of the most recent advances of modern technology and personal training and vigilance). The research allowed to establish the specific ways of managing the proceeds derived from the committed offences, in due consideration of the respective nationality of their members. A certain proportion of the crime structures consumed the proceeds, others made investments and promoted business development, still others transferred the funds to their home countries. The study revealed that well-organized groups were active in Poland, whereas the highly-organized ones also ventured abroad with their operations, whilst making use of their international contacts with a view to establishing collaboration with some other internationally structured groups in order to promote business development and maximize their illicit revenues. The interviews revealed that police investigators manage to keep very much abreast of the activities pursued by internationally structured, organized crime groups in Poland.

191-268

Authors: Monika Szulecka

The article analyses a series of in-depth expert interviews conducted in the first half of 2015 with border guards from selected units across Poland within the framework of the project CIS – Modular Multipurpose System of Foreigner Identification with a risk of trafficking analysis module. Special preparedness for intensified migration in Europe, and potentially also in Poland, observed already in the first half of 2015 when the fieldwork was conducted, indicates that although the analyzed material covers the period before the onset of the refugee crisis, its conclusions are universal and can be applied to a different migratory situation. The term “irregular migration” is used throughout the text to describe different instances of non-compliance with the law at different stages of the migration process (mainly entry, residence, and work), keeping in mind that it is an imprecise term that is increasingly replaced with expressions meant to reduce stigmatization on the one hand, and to convey the complexity of the issue on the other. The expression “irregular migration” functions in Polish law, although without a precise definition. The Border Guard, as stated in the law regulating the activities of this formation, is the primary state agency tasked with preventing and combating irregular migration. Statistics available in Poland – which allow to estimate the supposed scale of irregular migration – show it to be a very marginal phenomenon, in fact similar to immigration to Poland, in spite of an observable climb in statistics since 2014. From the viewpoint of the relevant services, it seems alarming, however, that although irregular migration levels remain relatively low (particularly compared to other EU countries), there are many (although it is not clear on what scale) violations, associated, if not with irregular migration as such, then with processes typically described as semi-legal or quasi-legal migration. The data available indicate that the number of foreigners staying in Poland illegally is somewhere between a couple to several thousand people. The picture is somewhat different when it comes to the estimated number of foreigners staying in Poland for very short periods of time without the required documents. It is impossible to determine how many such people enter and leave Poland every month or year, particularly due to Schengen arrangements which leave a large section of the state border without checks. Comparing irregular migration-related threats from a dozen years ago to those encountered in Poland today, we can describe today’s irregular migration as irregular migration in “velvet gloves,” or semi-legal migration. On the one hand, the complexity and content of Polish migration law (in terms of what is permitted, and what is not) create potential for abuses. These abuses have, however, become more and more difficult to detect and demonstrate in proceedings before other authorities (prosecutors, courts). Unauthorized movements or organized trans-border travel often have an air of legality; many elements of the migration process comply with the law, authentic documents are used and procedures are followed, yet deeper analysis reveals that the process is essentially based on activities that violate the law (for example, obtaining the attestation of false statements under false pretenses, deliberately misleading a public official, staying within the territory of Poland for purposes other than those stated when applying for a residence or entry permit). The results of the qualitative study carried out among experts show that irregular migration in Poland in the second decade of the twenty-first century is essentially a marginal problem, particularly when compared to the challenges faced by other EU countries, unless we also consider so-called semi-legal migration. The latter is a massscale phenomenon, although this mass quality is not evidenced by official figures. Two phenomena belonging to semi-legal migration, with the potential of turning into “classic” irregular migration, came to the fore in the discussion on forms of irregular migration in Poland, the possibilities of detecting them, as well as the limited means there are of preventing them. The first is unjustified recourse to refugee procedures. The second consists in abusing a procedure that experts have deemed virtually unverifiable, namely the simplified procedure for hiring foreigners based on the employer’s declaration of intent. The fact that this procedure has contributed to the growth of services linked directly to organized irregular migration was mentioned by the respondents as the most problematic aspect of the said legal instrument. The issue of abusing other procedures remained in the background, which does not however mean that these infractions are treated dismissively, however from the viewpoint of the experts interviewed, they are either too few or pose less of a problem in terms of detection and application of relevant sanctions. Taking into account the forms of irregular migration discussed in the article, including types of violations and the limited possibilities of checking them, effective enforcement of compliance with the law on entry, residence and work seems a considerable challenge, particularly given the not always consistent regulations and their interpretation. The institution with the most experience in contacts with foreigners, namely the Border Guard, has long-standing experience in protecting state borders. Currently, the Border Guard is not only a side in various administrative and penal proceedings, but also an institution controlling the legality of stay and work in the territory of Poland. This requires that migration processes be looked at in a broader context, and not merely through the lens of individual infractions. The author attempts to bring out the said broad context and to describe and explain occurring forms of irregular migration.

321-345

Authors: Dagmara Woźniakowska-Fajst

The number of foreign nationals convicted of physical abuse in the period spanning 2004–2012 was around a dozen cases a year. The percentage of convicted foreign nationals in comparison with Poles indicted with the offence described in the provisions of Article 207 of the Polish Penal Code, was very low, i.e. 0.1%, throughout all the years studied. In the years 2004–2012, foreign nationals in Poland were convicted of 145 physical abuse offences. The perpetrators originated from 34 countries. Most of them came from Ukraine (24%), followed by Russia (12%) and Germany (7%). In the period under study, 8 convictions were secured for Armenian nationals, and 6 for Rumanian and Turkish, respectively. It should be noted that in the case of physical abuse, the aggrieved parties were mainly family members, spouses, and partners, but also children and the elderly, as well as the persons physically dependent on others for assistance in their activities of daily living (e.g. persons with disabilities). The relevant statistical data may readily be augmented by the materials gathered in the course of analysing the court’s records. Among the persons indicted for physical abuse, women are seldom the perpetrators, as only two were found in the cases analysed (28 offenders were male). The aggrieved parties were not their partners, though, but dependent individuals. The most numerous groups of perpetrators found in the court files included Russians (7 offenders) and Ukrainians (5). 7 offenders were EU citizens. Single cases were represented by other nationalities (2 Armenians, 2 Azerbaijanis, 2 Tunisians, 1 Belarussian, and 1 Iraqi). Much as in the case of other aggressive acts, numerous instances of physical abuse were related to their perpetrators’ inebriation. 18 offenders (i.e. almost 2/3 of the indicted ones) were under the influence of alcohol. The main motive of domestic violence was (besides alcohol abuse which seemed to directly trigger the outbursts of violent behaviour), some sort of conflict between family members in conjunction with an inability to alleviate it or resolve by other means. In the case of persons applying for a refugee status, long-term frustration was also found to be a contributing factor. Immediate family members of, i.e. wife, partner, children, and stepchildren aged 1–17 usually fall victim to domestic violence. In the case files under examination, a majority of the wronged women were of Polish nationality (23), 4 were Chechens, and one was an Azeri woman. In the majority of cases, where the perpetrator came from a country where Islam is the dominant religion (the perpetrator’s religious denomination was not mentioned in all the cases) and the victim was a Polish woman, it was hard to determine whether domestic violence has cultural reasons. These cases in no way differed from those in which the perpetrators were men of European origin. The actual percentage of foreign nationals convicted of rape in relation to the total number of convictions secured in pursuance of the provisions of Article 197 of the Polish Penal Code varies in the respective years of the period under study, ranging from 0.5% (in 2008) to over 2% (in 2012). The number of such convictions with regard to Polish nationals has been steadily decreasing, while remaining fairly stable in the case of foreign nationals (ranging from 4 to 17 per year). In the period spanning 2004–2012, foreign nationals in Poland were convicted of 88 rapes, their perpetrators originating from 29 countries. Over nine years, usually only one or two instances of convictions for rape were related to respective nationalities. Most convictions involved Ukrainians (20%), Bulgarians (17%), and Germans (8%). Romanian citizens were convicted in five cases, while Armenians and Russians 4 times each. A rich source of data on the perpetrators are the court records of criminal cases. In those studied, 18 perpetrators were revealed, all men. It would be rather hard to speculate, though, on any apparent regularity regarding their nationality. In that particular group, the most numerous were the Ukrainians (3). Otherwise, the group comprised single representatives of Russia (Chechen extraction), Tunisia, Morocco, Belarus, Syria, Algeria, Iran, Armenia, and the United States. Six offenders were EU citizens. The reason for a sexual assault was primarily the drive to satisfy one’s sexual desire, which in more than half of the cases was also related to alcohol abuse by the perpetrator. The statistics on the total number of rape offences committed by foreign nationals also differ in terms of the actual location where the rape was perpetrated. The majority (10) of offences described in the records studied took place in apartments and houses (as indeed it usually happens in all cases of reported rape in Poland), but open public spaces (e.g. streets, fields, woodland areas) made up an equally significant category (10 cases). In all cases the aggrieved parties were women, all of them of Polish nationality. They were mostly young or very young women. The youngest victim (of attempted rape) was 11 years old, while the oldest was 32. As with most cases of rape, one rule seemed to prevail throughout, i.e. first and foremost the victims of rape were personally known to the perpetrator. Out of the 20 identified victims, 12 knew the rapist, and 6 of them were members of the perpetrator’s family. In terms of the analysed records, minor victims appeared relatively numerous, also in view of the fact that the two perpetrators raped several girls. In no instance of rape of very young girls was the cultural aspect ever mentioned. In none of those cases was a young girl forced into marriage, or was cultural consent granted to having a sexual intercourse with a minor. Summing up the issue of foreign nationals as the perpetrators of physical abuse and rape, especially in the context of honour based violence, it is clear that currently such acts do not seem to have been committed mainly by the Muslims. Since foreign nationals residing in Poland mostly come from the neighbouring countries (predominantly Ukraine), they are by far the most visible as offenders. As far as the cases of rape are concerned, as referenced in the criminal records under study, the perpetrators’ mode of operation did not differ with respect to their nationality. In the case of foreign offenders, a substantial number of rape victims were very young girls, although this was in no way related to cultures that accept and promote child marriage or forced unions. All the perpetrators originated from our own cultural background.

425-439

Authors: Agnieszka Martynowicz

In recent years, the prospect of deportation after sentence has become an almost inevitable part of foreign national prisoners’ experience in the UK. Since 2006, the year of the so-called ‘foreign national prisoner scandal’, the development of increasingly stringent laws and deportation policies has been relentless. This included the introduction of ‘automatic deportation’ for certain categories of offences and lenghts of sentences; the development of a raft of early removal schemes, allowing for removal of prisoners during a sentence; the imposition of limits to legal aid in deportation cases and, most recently, an introduction of the ‘deport first, appeal later’ rule which limits the number of cases in which deportation can be challenged before the actual removal of the person beyond UK’s borders takes place. The perception of those prisoners as a particular ‘problem’ to be ‘managed’ rather than as individuals who need additional assistance and support, results in an overfocus on deportation to the detriment of their treatment while in prison custody. Foreign national prisoners regularly report lack of access to services in prisons, lack of interpretation and translation, confusion about the criminal justice process, isolation and loneliness. Both during and at the end of their sentences, they often receive little to no support with their re-integration needs. Foreign national prisoners often report difficulties in access to independent immigration legal advice and are rarely provided with any assistance at the time of deportation. This article is based on the author’s doctoral research with male Polish prisoners serving their sentences in Northern Ireland. In the course of the study, seventeen prisoners were interviewed either individually or in small groups between late 2013 and early 2015. The interviews took place in Maghaberry (high security) and Magilligan (medium security) prisons. In addition to interviews with prisoners, a small number of core prison staff responsible for equality and diversity policies were also interviewed, together with representatives of prison monitoring and oversight bodies. The study also included observations of aspects of the prison regime, and in particular the quarterly Foreign National Forum in each of the prisons. Although the main research did not specifically focus on the experiences or processes of deportation, this theme – inevitably – run through a number of research encounters. When speaking about their plans for life after release, most Polish prisoners linked those to staying in Northern Ireland; they wanted to go back to work, continue or re-establish relationships with their families and friends; settle back into the routines outside of the prison. They were, however, very mindful that their plans might come to an abrupt end if they were to be deported at the end of their sentences. The deportation process is complex and the anxiety experienced by Polish prisoners was often heightened by the lack of understanding of immigration law and procedures. Concerns about the lack of interpretation and translation of immigrationrelated documents; gaps in legal advice and confusion about the actual physical process of deportation defined the prisoners’ experience. Stories and advice about preparation for deportation were often exchanged in small group interviews during the research, with prisoners reflecting on previous experiences of people they knew to have been deported. The fact that much information was exchanged in that way, and on other ‘social’ occassions in the prison where the prisoners could meet in a group, meant that it was often contradictory and partial. The overall anxiety was made worse by the fact that prisoners had to often wait for a long time for their deportation decisions, only made aware of what they were towards the very end of their sentences, leaving them with little time to make practical preparations for removal. Adding to apprehension about the deportation process was the possibility of spending additional time in immigration custody in detention centres after their sentence has finished. Those who did not contest deportation were particularly keen to be removed directly from the prison to Poland and the potential for extended detention was a clear source of frustration. Overall, the research showed that Polish prisoners were still provided with minimal support, including at the time when they struggled to understand and navigate the deportation system. They appeared to be left almost entirely at the mercy of the prison and immigration systems, where information from solicitors can be scarce and where their experience is dominated by waiting – waiting for contact with lawyers; waiting for the deportation decision; waiting to be deported. While they wait, their plans for release are put on hold and their re-integration into the community is jeopardised as they are unable to prepare for their life after release while not knowing where that life will be.