Archiwum Kryminologii (Archives of Criminology)

7-14

Authors: Konrad Buczkowski, Beata Czarnecka-Dzialuk, Witold Klaus, Irena Rzeplińska, Monika Szulecka, Justyna Włodarczyk-Madejska, Paulina Wiktorska, Dagmara Woźniakowska-Fajst, Dobrochna Wójcik, Dominik Wzorek

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41-80

Authors: Krzysztof Krajewski

For many years, Polish penal policy has been considered to be very punitive. This is confirmed by the very high imprisonment rate which was observable even before World War Two. This raises the legitimate question of how to explain this consistent pattern. It is also appropriate to ask whether the reasons for this punitiveness can be found in punitive penal legislation, in the legal code, or in punitive sentencing practice, or at the level of the law in action. This article uses available statistical data to analyse selected trends in Polish penal policy, indicating that on many occasions attempts to diminish punitive sentencing outcomes through legislation produced absolutely opposite results. At the same time, there have been periods of real reduction in this punitiveness which occurred without any specific legislative changes made with such an intention. All of this suggests that the law on the books and the law in action may to a large extent be independent of each other.

153-203

Authors: Marcin Jurczyk

The subject of the text is the theoretical context of Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory which explains youth crime in terms of social relationships, focussing on the individual’s negative relationships with others. Reference has been made to theories that inspired the development of Agnew’s theory, including Merton’s theory of anomie, Cohen’s theory of subculture formation, Cloward & Ohlin’s opportunity theory, and Messner & Rosenfeld’s institutional anomie theory. The article presents issues regarding the type of strain experienced by the individual in relation to other people, strategies for adapting to strain, the possibilities of predicting it, and the role of relative deprivation in the development of subjectively felt strain among adolescents who commit criminal acts. Further considerations were devoted to research published in Poland and abroad which uses Agnew’s theory to explain youth crime.

253-285

Authors: Jan Widacki, Anna Szuba-Boroń

Not only have the regulations in criminal law concerning the crime of rape changed over the years, but so has the evident process of the transformation of its cultural context. In the early decades of the 20th century, physical traces of violence – visible bodily harm experienced by the victim – was required as proof of rape. The 1970s brought an entirely different social image of the phenomenon, revealing that “date rape” constitutes the majority of all acts of rape. Cultural circumstances play a key role in the process of naming an act rape. Statistical data also allow for the claim that the shift in prosecuting cases of the crime of rape has neither resulted in an increase in the number of reported rapes nor in a decrease in the number of such unreported crimes.

335-363

Authors: Anna Dąbrowska, Justyna Kusztal, Małgorzata Turczyk

The article presents an innovative programme for the re-adaptation of inmates confined in correctional facilities which focusses on building and consolidating their bonds with their children. In Poland, contemporary social rehabilitation programmes are based on measures listed in the Polish Executive Penal Code of 1998 (Executive Penal Code, 1997, Art. 67 § 3). Apart from studying, working, cultural and educational activities, and therapeutic interventions, the Code also mentions contact with family members and relatives. These rehabilitation programmes include the right of convicts, under international and national law, to maintain contact with their families, while methodologically they are compliant with the most current cognitive-behavioural approach to therapy and corrective measures. They also draw on the multi-systemic approach, in a general sense. In the context of safeguarding children’s rights, contact between parents and children is the responsibility of the parents, but in the case of prisoners it is the responsibility of the correctional institution to ensure that prisoners can exercise their rights while serving a custodial sentence. The article takes advantage of the methodologies of document analysis and participant observation. It discusses the programme for the social re-adaptation of prisoners, which involves encouraging and consolidating relationships between parents and children while maintaining a focus on particular rehabilitation objectives, resocialisation methods, and outcome evaluation.

381-402

Authors: Emil W. Pływaczewski

The article presents Polish criminology and penal sciences during the first decade after World War II. Communist ideology had a significant impact on science, especially the social and legal sciences. Some representatives of criminal law, acting in accordance with the dominant ideology of the time, considered criminology to be a superfluous science. Based on materials sourced from the New Files Archive, previously unknown facts were revealed from the period of the ‘Sovietisation of the penal law science’, which started with the initiation of the activities of the Scientific and Consultation Committee at the Ministry of Justice. In the author’s opinion, despite the dogmatism and schematic thinking that was dominant in the approach to criminological problems, some Polish criminologists effectively defended themselves against the government’s negative approach towards criminology. As much as possible, they studied important criminological problems and conducted research in selected areas related to the criminal activity of both adults and minors. Thanks to this attitude, in the most difficult period for Polish criminology, a solid foundation was created both for the continuation of earlier research and for taking on new research challenges after October 1956, when the so-called renewal of political life started.

9-29

Authors: Edyta Drzazga

Green criminology, whilst functioning under the banner of critical criminology since its inception, has slowly begun to have more and more to do with traditional criminology. The subject of this article is the interrelations of this new perspective and traditional considerations on crime. Green criminology seems to have much to offer mainstream criminology, enriching it with ideas that have hitherto been unnoticed or overlooked. In turn, the achievements of traditional criminology provide useful solutions and concepts that can enable green criminology to develop.

65-123

Authors: Renata Szczepanik

The starting point for the content of this article is the assumption that penalty and imprisonment constitute an important element of a criminal career. Time in prison has been considered firstly to promote the development of a career, and secondly as a chance for the inmate to give up crime by taking conscious action. The aim of the article is to find answers to the following questions: How does recidivist imprisonment influence a criminal’s career at its various stages? What functions does imprisonment serve for beginner criminals and for those who are experienced inmates? The empirical material consisted of records of autobiographical narrative interviews. Additional data came from an analysis of documents and semi-structured interviews with inmates and personnel. The adoption of a perspective of cognition that goes beyond the biographies of individuals and enables the discovery of general formulas and mechanisms which shape the understanding of recidivists’ behaviour in prison conditions was possible thanks to Grounded Theory methodology.

261-295

Authors: Helmut Kury, Annette Kuhlmann, Jorge Quintas

One of the most discussed types of crime in Western countries is the use and sale of illegal drugs, especially hard drugs. The debate has become more heated over the few last years in the context of controversies over migration from the south to the north and an intensification of drug dealing. On the one hand, we find an increasing acceptance of soft drugs, while on the other hand, conservative groups argue for harsher punishment to reduce the problem. This chapter discusses the developments in the USA, Germany, and Portugal and raises doubts about the effectiveness of more and harsher punishment on crime prevention.

325-380

Authors: Jan Bazyli Klakla, Ewa Radomska, Katarzyna Struzińska, Michalina Szafrańska

The main purpose of this article is to present general trends in the spatial diversity of crime in Kraków in 2016–2017. These trends were reconstructed using crime mapping – an analysis of the spatial distribution of crime and hot spot analysis. The spatial analysis of crime was prepared both for crime in general and for selected categories of crime. The analysis includes the impact of the variable of time: the year, season, and time of day were categories used in the analysis.

439-463

Authors: Michał Leciak

The term ticket scalping has become commonly used to define the behaviour of a perpetrator who purchases tickets and resells them at a profit. Among lawyers in Poland there is no need for a discussion on the legitimacy and manner of the criminal response to the trade of tickets to sporting events. This issue is completely outside the sphere of interest of the legislature; the only form of reaction in such matters is laid out in the provisions of Art. 133 § 1–2 of the Code of Petty Offences. At the same time, there is an increasing number of national laws in which the problem of ticket trading is covered by specific criminal regulations Moreover, the need for close cooperation between law enforcement agencies at the national and international levels or other state entities (such as fiscal control authorities) and sports federations or organisers of sporting events is increasingly recognised. It should be noted that ticket scalping today is closely related to gambling in sport and corruption in sport, being an area of great interest to organised crime groups around the world.

497-536

Authors: Mateusz Rodak

The interwar period is sometimes described as the golden era of safe-breakers. This era is said to have begun at the beginning of the twentieth century, whereas the second half of the 1930s marks its end. The largest group of safe-breakers was comprised of criminals from Warsaw (over 200 people). This article attempts to analyse this environment with additional elements of prosopography. I would like to answer the question of who these safe-breakers of Warsaw during the interwar period were and to attempt to reconstruct the courses of their ‘careers’ alongside the question of motive. An especially interesting aspect is their social background. The article concludes with thoughts on the connections between the reality at that time and the current idea of an interwar safe-breaker.

5-9

Authors: Konrad Buczkowski, Beata Czarnecka-Dzialuk, Witold Klaus, Anna Kossowska, Irena Rzeplińska, Monika Szulecka, Justyna Włodarczyk-Madejska, Paulina Wiktorska, Dagmara Woźniakowska-Fajst, Dobrochna Wójcik

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53-113

Authors: Ewa Habzda-Siwek

The aim of the research presented in the article is to show the amount, structureand dynamics of the offences against life and health that are defined in Chapter XIXof the Polish Penal Code 1997. The article offers an analysis of the data on the of fencesagainst life and health based on the publicly available statistics for the years 1999–2016.In the analysed period, two main trends relating to the amount of crime shouldbe identified. The first, encompassing the years 1999 to 2003, was an upward trend,followed by a downward trend that accelerated in the second decade of this century.In fact, since 2011 there has been a general, spectacular and significant drop of crimein Poland, also including offences against life and health.For the purpose of the analysis, offences against life and health are divided intofour main categories: homicide, assault or battery, bodily injury and other crimes(not included in the above-mentioned categories). Based on the offences recorded bythe police in the years 1999–2003, the number of all offences against life and healthexceeded 35,000 in 2003. Then, the number of such offences was relatively stable (about31,000-32,000 per year) and has decreased to about 18,000 since 2011.Generally, over the analysed period, the number of offences in three of four catego -ries: homicide, assault and battery and bodily injuries, has shrunk several times. The onlyexception to the general trend relates to the offences under Art. 160 of Criminal Code(defined as “exposing a human being to an immediate danger of loss of life or bodilyinjury or impairment of health”) that is invoked, among others, in cases of parentalneglect, distribution of designer drugs or even as allegations of medical malpractice.The significant drop in crime during the second decade of the 21st century asksfor an explanation. The first possible reason for this is that a crime drop has beenobserved in many countries, seems to be a common and international phenomenonand, as such, it also applies to Poland. The second explanation, probably the mostimportant one, is that the crime drop in Poland has been due to the systemic changesin the recording of crimes.First of all, in 2013 a new police information system was introduced, which led tosome problems with making it compatible with the old one. In parallel, in the same year,a substantial change in the recording of juvenile delinquency was adopted. Accordingto the new methodology, offences committed by juveniles are recorded by the policeonly after juvenile courts confirm the fact that a juvenile has indeed committed a crime.The problem is that there is no rule that would oblige juvenile courts to give suchinformation back to the police. It could possibly have a strong impact on the statisticsof crime, especially regarding assault and battery and bodily injuries, as juveniles usedto be a significant group of individuals suspected of such crimes. To make it clear,the data about ascertained crimes in Poland do not include punishable acts committedby juveniles.Furthermore, the investigation and proceedings carried out by the prosecutor’soffices and entrusted to other competent bodies than the police are not includedin the official police data. It all means that, since 2013, the range of the police data hasbeen substantially limited and does not reflect incidence of crime in full.The third possible reason for the falling number of crimes is the effect of thedemographic processes. It should also be taken into account that the populationof adolescents in Poland is currently at the lowest level since World War II.The article discusses four main categories of the offences covered by Chapter XIXof the Penal Code.The category “Homicide” is not a simple one. It includes manslaughter (Art. 148§ 1), murder (Art. 148 § 2 describes different forms of such felony: killing withparticular cruelty, in connection with hostage taking, rape or robbery, for motivesdeserving particular reprobation, and also with the use of explosives). The PolishCriminal Code also has provisions relating to heat of passion manslaughter justifiedby the circumstances (Art. 148 § 4 of the Penal Code). According to the data recordingby the police, in the analysed period the number of homicide cases has decreased bymore than 50%!“Bodily injury” is a very broad category that also covers causing serious bodilyharm, which includes, among others, deprivation of sight, hearing, speech or the ability to procreate, or inflicting a serious crippling injury, an incurable or prolonged illness,an illness dangerous to life, a permanent mental illness, a permanent total or substantialincapacity to work in an occupation, or a permanent serious bodily disfigurementor deformation (Art. 156 § 1 of the Penal Code), stipulating a heavier penalty if theconsequence of an act is death (Art. 156 § 3 of the Penal Code) than for causinga bodily injury or an impairment to health other than specified in Art. 156 Penal Code(Art. 157 § 1 of the Penal Code). If the bodily injury or an impairment of health doesnot last longer than seven days, prosecution will be brought on a private charge. Overthe analysed period, most of these cases were qualified under Art. 157 of the PenalCode. The total number of bodily injuries has been slowly decreasing over the analysedperiod, reaching about 60% of the initial amount.“Assault and battery” (Ar. 158 and Art. 159 of the Penal Code) is also a verybroad category and includes brawling (the perpetrator who participates in a brawlis responsible for the complicity in the act that means an immediate danger to life ormay lead to a bodily injury) and battery, when the role of the victims and the offendersare clearly determined. Since 2011, the police data have shown a spectacular dropin the number of assault and battery – to one third of previously recorded cases. It isundoubtedly a side effect of the change in the algorithm of recording punishable actscommitted by juveniles.The conclusion is that the changes in the methodology of recording ascertainedcrime by the police have limited the range of available data on crime. Therefore, interpretingthe data on offences against life and health has now been made more difficult asthe punishable acts of juveniles are no longer included in the police information system.In such a situation, possible ways of gathering data on crime and their interpretation should be reconsidered.Moreover, there is an urgent need to develop and conduct criminological researchon offences against life and health.

153-219

Authors: Justyna Włodarczyk-Madejska

The article analyses the cooperation of juvenile judges with supporting institutionsin the adjudication process on the basis of the research project conducted at theDe partment of Criminology of the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academyof Sciences in 2016, entitled: “Cooperation of juvenile courts with other institutionsin the application educational and corrective measures”. The aim of the research projectwas to examine how juvenile courts practically implement the assumptions resultingfrom the Act on Proceeding in Juvenile Cases, especially its Article 32b, which providesthat juvenile judges have a duty to collect information about the juveniles and theirenvironment in the course of the proceedings – directly or indirectly (by the supportinginstitutions). The last of them have been defined as an organised team of institutionsthat cooperate with each other in order to achieve common aims. Cooperation hasbeen defined as “a type of social process to achieve a common aims”. In the courseof the project, two kinds of research were conducted. The first of them included nationalsurveys addressed to juvenile judges, professional family probation officers, expertsfrom diagnostic teams, the second – individual in-depth interviews with selectedrepresentatives of these groups. The national surveys comprised: 162 juvenile judges,556 professional family probation officers and 177 experts from diagnostic teams, whichaccounted for, respectively, 16%, 28% and 33% of total population for each of thesegroups. The individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 respondents,10 in each group.On the basis of the research, it can be assumed that, in general, the cooperationof juvenile judges with professional family probation officers and diagnostic teamsis good. This is an average value. It means that, in some courts, cooperation is more efficient than in others. The main evidence that provides knowledge about juvenilesis the environmental interview; 70% of judges declared that the order regarding thepreparation of an interview is issued in each case. None of them chose this categoryof answers in the question about the diagnostic opinion. Both the national survey andthe interviews demonstrate the lack of interdependence between the type of case andthe frequency of the order to prepare an environmental interview. This dependencyoccurs in relation to the diagnostic opinion. The probability of commissioning the pre -paration of such evidence is higher in cases in which the court intends to rule anisolation educational measure or corrective measure. There are different practicesof asking questions to the supporting institution. The questions, especially aboutthe cause and degree of demoralisation (88%), suggestions about the measure andthe direction of further impacts (86%), and personality characteristics of the juveniles(79.6%), are more often addressed to the diagnostic teams. The conducted researchconfirmed a high degree of convergence of the judgments with the recommendationsof the supporting institutions (an average 78.5% with diagnostic teams and 54.7% withprofessional family probation officers). Juvenile judges were asked to evaluate evidencecontaining information about the juveniles. The judges recognised the diagnosticopinion as the most helpful evidence in the decision-making process (87.7%); whereas85.8% of them also underlined the importance of the environmental interview. Thereis no doubt about nearly the same perception of the purpose of the functioning ofthe supporting institutions by the respondents of all the three surveyed groups. Theyagreed that these institutions are necessary and the juvenile justice system could notexist without them. These institutions provide information allowing conducting com -plete diagnoses of the juveniles and their environment, and thus determining themost needed measure; as such, they help to make the decision on the applicationof the most appropriate measure in each case. The article also includes theoreticalanalysis and analysis of the applicable regulations. Each of them confirms the existenceof assumptions and premises to create a “model system of proceeding with juveniles.”

263-325

Authors: Monika Płatek

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence againstwomen and domestic violence (further: CETS210, Istanbul Convention, Anti-violenceConvention) became part of the Polish legal system on 1 August 2015. The IstanbulConvention incorporates a specific legal provision on rape, namely Art. 36 CETS210.It states that the Parties should take the necessary legislative or other measures toensure that the intentional conduct described in Art. 36 CETS210 is criminalised.Article 36.1a CETS210 states that rape takes place when engaging in non-consensualvaginal, anal or oral penetration of a sexual nature of the body of another person withany bodily part or object.Rape is respectively regulated in Art. 19 7 of the Polish Criminal Code 1997 (further,k.k.). However, the context of Art. 197 k.k. significantly differs from the wordingof Art. 36 CETS. Whereas Art. 36 CETS protects freedom, autonomy and sexualautonomy of the person, Art. 197 k.k. protects merely sexual freedom combined withprotecting the social customs. In order to establish the presence of rape, one needs toprove the presence of violence, psychological aggression and/or deception. Protectingsocial customs implies an additional burden because it allows evaluating the behaviourof the victim rather than the one of the perpetrator. The Istanbul Convention is orientedon eager elimination of violence against women and domestic violence. Therefore, itestablishes that the Parties should take the necessary measures to promote changesin the social and cultural patterns and behaviour of women and men with a view toeradicating prejudice, customs, traditions and all other practices which are based onthe idea of the inferiority of women or stereotyped roles for women and men (Art.12.1 CETS210). It is within this line that rape regulation should follow.The question that is tackled in this article is as follows: to what extent doesthe difference in the legal description of the act of “rape”, and the difference in protectedvalues by legal provision in Art. 36 CETS210 and in Art. 197 k.k. make an ontologicaland normative difference? Are they not possible to be reconciled? Or, is the meredifference in the words describing what “rape” not an obstacle to achieving the goalsexpected by Art. 36 CETS210?The problem is not an artificial one especially in view of the fact that the Polishlegislators did not amend the text of Art. 197 k.k. upon the ratification of CETS210. It would suggest that the Polish legislator was of the opinion that there is no definitedifference between Art. 36 CETS210 and Art. 197 k.k. The text examines what happen eswhen an old term acquires new meaning.Is Art. 197 k.k. despite the lack of amendments filling the value required by Art.36 CETS210? Or, is the sameness expected by the Polish legislator false? By demonstratingvital differences in the protected values and the action required establish ingthe presence of the rape, I call for amendments to fulfill the state legal obligations toobserve the Istanbul Convention.The article deals with the ontological difference in the legal concept behind the textof Art. 36 CETS210 and Art. 197 k.k. While Art. 197 k.k. is built on the concept of sexualfreedom, Art. 36 CETS is developed on the concept of sexual autonomy. I elaborateon that.The changes in the protected values incorporated in Art. 36 CETS210 lead toabandoning the concept of sexual freedom established in Art. 197 k.k. and adoptingthe concept of sexual autonomy. While the former concept of sexual freedom, asin Art. 197 k.k., uses violence, psychological aggression and/or deception to establishthe presence of rape, for sexual autonomy as defined in Art. 36 CETS210 the line iscrossed where the consent was not present. While sexual freedom limits freedom to torefusal, sexual autonomy demands the presence of consent. Not violence, aggressionor deception, but the lack of consents matters.The term and concept of sexual autonomy was first explored by the EuropeanCourt of Human Rights in the landmark European Court of Human Right (furtherECHR) judgment M.C. v. Bulgaria (No. 39272/98). The case is thoroughly analysedto further illuminate the difference between the two concepts behind the differentapproaches to defining “rape”.The article, however, starts with an in-depth introduction to the goal of the IstanbulConvention, which is to place the issue of rape in a proper perspective. Apart froma criminological analysis of the concept of rape, the article discusses the values protectedby, respectively, Art. 36 CETS210 and Art. 197 k.k. and compares the similarities andactual differences. A similar examination is related to the description of “rape” in Art.36 CETS and Art. 197 k.k. Last but not least, the subject is evaluated, taking the Polishcriminal dogmas into consideration.The conclusion of the examination leaves no room for assuming that Art. 197 k.k.fulfills the requirement stipulated by Art. 36 CETS210. It is, therefore necessary, toamend Art. 197 k.k.

371-400

Authors: Jadwiga Królikowska

This article presents selected results of a legal and sociological research project entitled“Penal cultures. Cultural context of criminal policy and criminal law reforms. Legal,penological, historical, sociological, and cultural (anthropological) analysis of criminallaw reforms in Poland against the background of European and world trends”, conductedin 2012-2014 on a sample of 160 Polish judges. The research was carried out usingthe questionnaire method supplemented with in-depth interviews with 12 judges.The questionnaire was sent by email to all the presidents of district, regional, andappellate courts in Poland with a request to pass it to their judges. The questionnaire wasaccompanied by a recommendation letter from the Vice-Rector for Scientific Researchat the University of Warsaw with the information about the research unit, that is aboutthe Professor G. Rejman Division of Culturally Integrated Legal and Social Studiesand the European Centre for Penological Studies at the University of Warsaw. Thequestionnaire was either sent back in bulk from individual courts, or the respondentssent it back individually by post or email to the university address provided.The punishment phenomenon was examined in a processual approach. Theresearchers adopted the hypothesis that criminal judges were the first link in thisprocess and knew more about punishment and punishing as social and legal phenomena than the general public. The presented research refers thematically to the studiescarried out by Bronisław Wróblewski and Witold Świda before World War II, reportedin their book Sędziowski wymiar kary w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Ankieta [The judiciarysentencing of punishment in the Republic of Poland. A Questionnaire], publishedin Vilnius in 1939. Similarly to those studies, the present research asks questions aboutthe determinants of the judiciary dimension of punishment, but it emphasises morestrongly the cultural, philosophical and moral dimensions of punishment attitudesdisplayed in sentencing.The statements of the respondents show a varied l evel of the judges’ knowledge aboutmatters concerning the socio-cultural and psychological aspects of punishment. Theyalso reveal a strong legal orientation of views and remain within the set of notions andtheories focused on law. Similarly to the Vilnius pre-war studies, the judges’ statementsshow a strong formative influence of lawyers’ education curricula implemented at alllevels of education.The results of the research carried out in 2012-2014 illuminate the judges’ viewson the goals and functions of punishment and punishing. They show the declaredhierarchy of the most important variables defining professional decisions regardingthe sentences imposed by the judges. They show the influence of systemic and culturalvariables on the professional attitudes and motives of the judges’ decisions in this matter.The judges’ statements on the effectiveness of penalties in individual and generalprevention are generally subdued. Although these factors are taken into account inthe process of sentencing, there is no deep conviction about their high impact. It issignificant that the research shows a clear distancing of the judges from the assumptionthat they may be subservient to influences from their superiors, scholarly authorities,public opinion or the decisions of colleagues in similar matters. Independence isdeclared by judges to be an important feature of their professional ethos and appliesto all sources of influence. On the other hand, what the judges indicate as variablesrelevant to their decisions on sentencing are the personal and family conditions ofthe perpetrator and their potential for rehabilitation, which may occur as a resultof criminal sentencing and end the state of impunity. The respondents also indicatethat the fairness of a sentence and the doing of justice to the offender is a significantaspect of the court’s action.Although the research procedure in this case was strongly grounded in empiricism,this was not its main distinguishing feature – it was the conducting of research inthe culture of methodological and theoretical integration of the empirical material.It makes it possible to deduce a complex structure of the researched process andto undertake an analysis explaining many more variables than would appear in thedisciplinary mono analysis.

431-458

Authors: Małgorzata Szwejkowska

In its introduction, the article characterises - in a most comprehensible way - themain objectives of criminal sanctions and their role in preventing crime, according tothe most commonly expressed opinions on the subject from American scholars. It isfollowed by a brief history of assessing the risk of committing an offence in the UnitedStates in recent decades. The risk assessment process was developed before World WarII as a tool to predict possible recidivism in the case of inmates released on parole, butit has been in more common use since 1980s. While the “What works?” movementinitially emerged in the United States, one needs to remember the publication of Robert Martinso’s report that created the “Nothing works” (concerning prison rehabilitation)doctrine. It aided the justification of severe changes in punitive prison policies inthe 1970s that continued well into the 1990s, with the slogans “tough on crime, toughon the causes of crime” being more prominent. It took more than a decade to reestablishsome hope in prison rehabilitation programmes and allow the paradigm shiftsto happen – from the retribution “being tough on offenders” policy to more creativeapproaches towards offenders. By constructive approaches to working with offenders,one means the use of effective methods and techniques to alter criminal behaviourof inmates to prevent their possible relapse into crime (crime prevention).The main goal of the article is to present the most fundamental system in the UScriminal justice system that is most commonly applied nowadays: the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model and its principles to offender assessment. The aforementionedprinciples were laid down by Canadian scholars, Donald Arthur Andrews andJames Bonta. In that model, “risk” means the identification of specific factors thatare associated with recidivism (in general, depending on a specific crime, e.g. sexualoffenders or offenders who committed violent crimes). Andrews and Bonta argue thata number of factors need to be considered in any comprehensive theory of criminalbehaviour, including biological or neurological issues, inheritance, temperamentand social and cultural factors, while also noting that criminal behaviour is a multifactorialissue. “Need” assesses criminogenic needs and targets them in prison treatmentprogrammes for elimination, while “responsivity” intends to maximise the offender’sability to learn how to combat possible recidivism through rehabilitative intervention,providing cognitive behavioural treatment – with the said intervention being tailoredto the learning style, motivation, abilities and strengths of the offender.Risk assessment is applied during different stages of the criminal procedure: beforesentencing and during the period of time when the criminal sanction is executed, i.e.while serving a custodial sentence. It must be noted that, in the US justice system, judgesare not the only people obliged to assess the potential risk of an offender relapsinginto crime in the future. Prison officers are also tasked with such assessment. Throughthe application of the RNR model, it is possible for the prison staff to divide inmatesinto specific groups, depending on security levels and adequate treatment programmes.In that case, the assessment tools based on the RNR model not only allow a predictionof a possible relapse into crime, but also a proper allocation of convicts to rehabilitationprogrammes provided within prisons. A convict undergoes an evaluation before andafter the treatment. Such evaluations are imposed on most prisoners, so performingthem does have an impact on the financial and human resources of a given penitentiaryunit.The most important question, “What works in prison?” is answered by the majorityof scholars through propositions of providing cognitive and behavioural skill programmesto the convicts. They have clear criteria to ensure that objectives, methods andapplication of rehabilitation programmes correspond with the needs of criminaloffenders. The conclusion of the research is meant to prove that providing offenders with such treatment (based upon the RNR model) may have a positive effect on re -ducing the risk of relapse into crime in the future. However, the appropriate methodsof treatment are based not only on psychotherapy (or, sometimes, on pharmacologicaltreatment), but also on education, vocational training, personal development, strengtheningself-control mechanisms and improving interpersonal skills.

495-522

Authors: Anna Matczak

Restorative justice is a complex and multi-faceted concept, the introduction of whichdoes not happen in a socio-political and economic vacuum. Every society engageswith restorative justice in its own distinctive way as it is the society – lay people – thatis always on the receiving end of restorative solutions. In this article, I draw on mydoctoral research that explores qualitatively how a small number of Polish peopleunderstand punishment and justice, and how their narratives inform the viabilityof restorative approaches to justice in Poland. In other words, I propose to considera macro-sociological perspective, and how lay people’s understanding of punishmentand justice should be seen as an avenue by which to explore certain preconditions forthe viability of restorative justice.Poland’s socialist past, change of the political regime, post-communist “accession”to the international community in the West and a high level of religiosity (among manyother factors) make Poland a fascinating object of study that can, at the same time,offer insights about restorative justice in other societies. Restorative justice, introducedin the form of victim-offender mediation, was part of the post-1989 political ambitionsto change the Polish penal landscape and join the international community in the West.There were a number of forces behind the establishment of restorative justice in Poland.Given that the concept was introduced at a time when the Polish society was dealingwith the socialist legacy and creating a new democratic reality, it was also hoped thatmediation could serve as a fast-track remedy and act as an ancillary mechanism toreduce the sudden spike in court workloads after the fall of communism. In the caseof Poland, it seems that the exceptionally limited interest in mediation and the paucityof anticipated outcomes of victim-offender mediation is the problem. In order toexplore the viability of restorative justice in the Polish context, one must thereforelook beyond the legal basis and formal logistics which have been already in place formany years.My research opens up new debates on the viability of restorative justice, and thisarticle in particular fleshes out the nature of the participants’ perceptions of victimoffendermediation. In this article, I first briefly introduce the Polish model of victimoffendermediation. I then discuss the nature of the initial responses to mediationbased on the participants’ knowledge of, support for, and any experience of, victimoffendermediation. This is followed by the discussion on how the participants’ viewson mediation were articulated in the shadow of the Polish criminal justice system.Next, I explore why the participants viewed mediation as a business-like encounterand, finally, I explore the participants’ perceptions of apology – something that cameup as one of the most interesting findings of the study.The aim of this paper is to argue that the viability of restorative justice should beapproached as a process that is influenced by broader socio-economic, political andeven linguistic factors. Although the Polish model of victim-offender mediation wasinspired by the restorative justice concept, the narratives of my lay participants suggesta number of socio-cultural obstacles to the further development of restorative justicein Poland. Despite a limited knowledge of victim-offender mediation among the studyparticipants, it is clear that support for mediation is negotiated and conditional.Although victim-offender mediation was mainly perceived not as a punishment, therole and purpose of this practice was discussed against the background of the Polishcriminal justice system. Although the relationship might be defined as “uneasy” (seeShapland et al. 2006), restorative justice, since its conception, has been interwoven withthe two. One of restorative justice’s central hopes was to establish an alternative systemof crime resolution that would eliminate the infliction of pain. However, the trajectoryof restorative justice solutions in many countries demonstrates that the functioningof a majority of them is dependent on criminal justice agencies. Given the close andinseparable relationship between the two, I argue in my research that the ways in whichlay people perceive the criminal justice institutions affect their perceptions of alternativeconflict resolutions. Then, as it emerged in my fieldwork, the study participants’ perceptionof harm suggests that mediation might be seen as an avenue to focus onthe financial side of the reparation, and as result might achieve something other thanrestorative goals. The narratives of my study participants also explore the difficultyof acknowledging apology as a genuine element of the restorative encounter. Thiscould be due to looking at apology through the lens of court apology, sociolinguistic or cultural reasons. John Braithwaite in his book Restorative Justice and ResponsiveRegulation (2002) rightly indicated that “we are still learning how to do restorativejustice well” (p. 565). Nevertheless, the question whether a perfect restorative justiceprogramme is ever possible remains open.

535-560

Authors: Anna Szuba-Boroń

Twenty years of personal experience in crime-related field that furthermore inspiredreflection on the reasons of crime made a Polish writer, Sergiusz Piasecki, interestingfor forensic sciences. His life started with a turbulent and difficult childhood, hematured among the turmoil of the Soviet Revolution and joined the guerrillas fightingBolsheviks, finally to graduate from the School of Infantry Cadets in Warsaw and beassigned to the Lithuanian-Belarusian Division in Vilnius. After the Bolshevik War,being a decommissioned soldier, Piasecki painfully experienced life in poverty. Thiswas when he began to earn his sustenance by smuggling. He later entered a few-yearlongcooperation with the 2nd Division of the High Command of the Polish Army andbecame an intelligence agent. In 1926, being unemployed again, he robbed a suburbantrain. In accordance with the law in force, the summary court sentenced him to death.However, the President of the Republic Ignacy Mościcki pardoned Pia secki, exchangingthe penalty to 15 years in prison. Piasecki served 11 years of his sentence in the prisonsof Lida, Nowogódek, Rawicz, Mokotów, Koronowo, and finally in the toughest prisonof the Second Republic – at Święty Krzyż (the Holy Cross) near Kielce. The 20 yearsfrom 1917 to 1937 were the period decisive for the writing realism and thoroughnessof descriptions of the criminal world and presented protagonists, as well as analysesof psychological and social circumstances that lead individuals to the path of crime.Beginning with Piasecki’s first published book Kochanek Wielkiej Niedźwiedzicy (Lover of the Greater Bear, aka Lover of the Ursa Major) whose author enjoyed a quite uniquestatus of criminal prisoner, and which presented the facts of life of smugglers onthe Polish-Soviet fringe in 1922–1924, the precious study of the criminal world wascontinued in the trilogy Jabłuszko, Spojrzę ja w okno, and Nikt nie da nam zbawienia(Apple, Shall I Look into the Window, and No One is to Redeem us). In Żywot człowiekarozbrojonego (Life of the Human Disarmed), the protagonist moves through all the levelsof conflict with the law, and the reader follows the process of his reflections to becomefamiliar with the impact of the external world on the dramatic choices made.The work of Piasecki follows the current of prose keen on social environmentof the 1930s, based on authenticity and autobiographic experience, and whose cog -nitive values result among others from the personal involvement of the author, whocorroborates knowledge based on experience and direct contact. It is a specific typeof participatory observation: a method of researching criminal phenomena wherethe observer is part of the criminal world.The goal of the writer, which he actually frequently emphasised, was the eagernessto share the knowledge on criminals with the society, with the provision thatthe criminal world he portrayed was multidimensional rather than just a separate,specific social group, standing out from among the “normal” people. He also paidspecial attention to the life’s circumstances that can “make” anyone a criminal. It is alsocharacteristic of Piasecki to juxtapose criminals against people who are “mechanically”honest. In examining the writer’s views on crime, such a ploy demolishes the positivistdivision of the society into criminals and decent people. Honest by default, manya decent citizen proves to be a bad man. On the other hand, many derailed outcastsfrom the society are in fact good and truly honest. Some stories presented by Piaseckiare quite precise illustrations of theories in the crime sciences. In his descriptionsof the demimonde of the Minsk thieves, Piasecki described them in terms very closeto those presented by Edward Sutherland in The Professional Thief, a book writtenby a professional thief with Sutherland’s sociological commentary.The history of literature knows many writers whose works were based on the introspectionof their respective authors, and whose content allows delving into the socialreality of a given time and an insightful analysis of criminal personalities, as well as anattempt at defining the factors that influence criminal behaviours. Such a knowledgeof the human/the criminal is especially well articulated in realistic prose (Balzac,Zola, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Marquez, Remarque, Piasecki, Nachalnik, Wiskowski, Mironowicz).Certainly, the belles-lettres play a special role in this context, providinga source of knowledge, especially if by the virtue of the vicissitudes of his or her life andthoughts the author can convey information helpful in explaining and understanding the assessment of the phenomena investigated by criminal sciences.

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Authors: Danuta Janicka

The article presents the views of three prominent thinkers regarding criminal punishment: Romuald Hube (1803–1890), the father of Polish criminal law, Juliusz Makarewicz (1872–1955), the most distinguished interwar Polish lawyer, and Władysław Wolter (1897–1986), the founder of the Krakow school of criminal law. A presentation of the ideas on punishment developed by these masters of Polish jurisprudence provides an overview of the evolution of criminal law and political-criminal thought in Polish lands over the course of a century. Citing selected fragments from the works of the three professors, the Author examines how they interpreted punishment, what they believed its role to be, and what theories of punishment they put forward; moreover, which specific sanctions they supported. The article also assesses the language and discursive style of these leading lights of Polish legal science. Romuald Hube represented the classic school of criminal law. He published his Ogólne zasady nauki prawa karnego (General principles of the study of criminal law), a rudimentary, systematic interpretation of criminal law, at the age of 27. He was one of the first scholars in Europe to promote a mixed theory of punishment, inspired by Hegelianism and combining the idea of retribution with the preventive aims of punishment. Juliusz Makarewicz was a representative of modernism, the leader of the sociological school of criminal law, and the father of the first penal code in independent Poland. He made his reputation in 1906 with the publication of a work on the philosophy of criminal law. He published a broad range of dogmatic and historical studies, textbooks and a commentary on the 1932 Polish penal code. Makarewicz proposed an absolute justification of punishment, yet he saw retribution as ultimately preventive, nolens volens developing a mixed theory of punishment oriented towards specific prevention. Władysław Wolter was a student of the last eminent exponent of the classic school in Poland, Edmund Krzymuski (1851–1928), and at the same time a representative of normativism. He dealt mainly with general issues in criminal law, particularly criminal science. After the introduction of Makarewicz’s penal code, he immediately published his first textbook. He continued his academic career after the war all the way into the 1970s. Wolter adopted a modernist position within penal science and indicated the need for purposive punishment within the bounds of justice; he was therefore also a supporter of a mixed theory of punishment. Although all of the named professors promoted or embraced a mixed theory of punishment, their approach to the penal system differed to some extent. Hube gave priority to imprisonment, which he strongly believed to be important and effective. Makarewicz questioned the effectiveness of imprisonment and proposed a broad array of protective and probation measures, in addition to non-prison punishments. Like Wolter, he espoused the idea of two-track penal repression, i.e. a system of penalties and protective measures in response to criminal offenses. None of the named scholars rejected capital punishment outright, although all of them distanced themselves from it and hoped that it would be abolished in the future. Hube saw death as an exceptional, rarely used sanction. Makarewicz still foresaw no possibility of removing it from the catalogue of punishments due to the needs of criminal policy – he saw capital punishment as a deterrent, thus a general preventive measure. Wolter denied that it had any such impact, arguing that capital punishment did not deter offenders and was only a protective measure. As for monetary fines, Hube believed them to be appropriate only in the case of petty crimes, although he rejected confiscation of property as a sanction that affected the convict’s family. Makarewicz accepted fines, although he pointed to their limited impact and inequality. Wolter wrote in a similar vein, expressing an ambivalent attitude toward this legal sanction, revealing the inequality of its burden given convicts’ differing material status and recommending different legal solutions when it came to this type of punishment. The excerpts from the works of the great masters of Polish criminal science cited by the Author also allow us to see how the language and style of criminal science has changed. Hube was the father of Polish legal language. His analyses were mainly conducted in a philosophical and historical vein. Makarewicz employed a rhetorical style, often emotional, making legal comparisons. Wolter perfected his arguments, often highly abstract, relying mainly on logic and dogmatics. All three scholars were quite familiar with European legal theory and drew on its achievements.

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Authors: Łukasz Wieczorek

The article discusses some of the findings of research carried out in 2008–2012 on forced labour in Poland. The research was done using triangulation methods and consisted in an analysis of seven criminal cases concerning human trafficking with a view to forced labour examined by Polish courts and prosecutors’ offices in 1998–2012. Interviews with experts and practitioners working to eliminate human trafficking (29 interviews) and with victims of forced labour in Poland (4 interviews) were also conducted. I also used a content analysis method to study press articles on forcing people to work in Poland and forcing Poles to work abroad that had appeared in the Polish press in 1997–2012. A total of 224 press articles were examined. Another source of information about forced labour in Poland, or rather about the social perception of this phenomenon, consisted in qualitative field research done in 32 localities across eight Polish provinces. This included a total of 137 conversations and interviews.The findings indicate that the problem of forced work doubtless exists in Poland, although it is difficult to gauge its actual scale. At the same time the phenomenology of forced labour that I present indicates that there are many aspects to forcing someone to work. Those who fall prey to forced labour include both Polish nationals and foreigners (Poles are generally forced to work abroad, while foreigners are subjected to forced labour in Poland). The age and sex of the victims is also irrelevant, as both young and middle-aged persons and both men and women are forced to work. There are many ways of recruiting and then of forcing one to work. In fact, it would be hard to enumerate all the methods employed by perpetrators to make their victims work. It is therefore impossible to indicate any specific group of people that would be particularly prone to this practice, as anyone can become a victim. The same goes for branches of the economy – it is impossible to indicate any one area that would be particularly susceptible to exploitation and forcing individuals to work. Research findings indicate that in Poland forced labour occurs in agriculture, construction, shipbuilding, textiles, sales, and services (particularly housework). Drawing on B. Andress’s idea of the continuum of exploitation (B. Andrees, Forced labour and trafficking in Europe: how people are trapped in, live through and come out, International Labour Office, Geneva 2008), I discovered that when it came to forced labour in Poland there was a distinctive succession of phases at play before people were actually forced into labour. In other words, ‘employers’ used various types of violence, threats or ruses to test the employee’s susceptibility to exploitation, trying to find out to what extent they could make the person work harder, while at the same time increasing the conditions of enslavement eventually resulting in forced labour. This finding is important when it comes to the scope of the legal provisions penalising human trafficking and forced labour in Poland. In their current wording, these provisions do not include behaviour such as progressive exploitation.My research clearly shows that Polish law enforcement and work inspection agencies have difficulty identifying cases of forced labour. Cases were often discovered by accident or by a coincidence as a result of which police agencies received information about a particular situation. Another weak spot in the identification of such cases is the lack of police intelligence about work agencies bringing foreign workers to Poland, particularly from Asian countries. Another issue is the lack of any regulation that would clearly and unequivocally penalise forced labour. The field research seems to indicate that law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges are not familiar with the phenomenology of forced labour and do not always consider it a form of human trafficking, particularly when the victims arrived in Poland via legal channels and/or were not sold. The ineffectiveness of the Polish system of eliminating forced labour and human trafficking is another problem due to the lack of joint action by law enforcement and the judiciary. The ineffectualness of law enforcement agencies isn’t only due to poor organisation and lack of human resources, but also due to a lack of instruments and procedures for detecting these kinds of crimes. Finally, low social awareness of the problem and social consent to people being exploited in the work setting are another aspect making it difficult to eliminate forced labour in Poland. The awareness of the foreigners themselves is another issue. They often come to Poland looking for work and agree to poor working conditions, hoping to earn more than in their home countries.

149-176

Authors: Monika Kotowska

‘White collars’ are perpetrators who do not fit the image of a ‘typical criminal’. They are often esteemed and enjoy a high position in society, while their crimes are part of the professional sphere and often occur ‘on the margins’ of legal activity. They also include people who – unlike ordinary criminals – risk losing their prestige, reputation and professional position. Their criminal activity is often seen as a mistake or omission, rather than as an intentional violation of the law. It would seem that ‘white collars’ are not a large group and that their crimes are not easily detected. They are not viewed as dangerous offenders who should be isolated. This is due to their personal traits, their modus operandi and the nature of their crimes, particularly as the latter are hard to detect, as well as to the fact that they have better access to high-quality legal aid than their less educated and wealthy counterparts. In prison, ‘white collars’ form a group which is difficult to define because of their small number. However, taking into account that Poland has seen a drop in the number of criminal offense in recent years, with a concomitant rise in the number of economic crimes, the number of ‘white collars’ in penitentiary facilities will surely grow steadily, particularly if a punitive criminal policy is pursued. From the viewpoint of criminal science, ‘white collars’ remain an unstudied phenomenon in Poland. Nor are there any studies of how ‘white collars’ cope with the conditions of life in prison. Looking for answers to these questions, the Author approached the authorities of one of the largest (the third in size) penitentiary facilities in the Olsztyn region with a request to access the prison archives. She examined the archival prison records of individuals who had served a sentence of imprisonment between 2005 and 2015 in order to identify a group of ‘white collars’. The selection criteria were as follows:- Final conviction for an economic crime/crimes- The crime was committed in connection with the person’s professional activity- Holders of a university/higher degree - Having a stable legal source of income.Individuals fulfilling the above criteria were considered as belonging to the category of ‘white collars’. It was found that during the period in question only two inmates detained at the facility matched the criteria, which justified further qualitative research. A case study was then conducted based on the archival personal records, parts A and B, which the prison made available to the Author. The Author looked specifically at documents like court sentences along with their justification, parole decisions made by penitentiary courts, probation reports, psychological opinions, as well as notes compiled by the inmates’ supervisors based on conversations with them. Because both of the inmates were serving their sentences within the framework of a programme system, the scope and nature of their personal programmes, including any updates, were also assessed. The records provided a glimpse into the perpetrators’ social and demographic status, including their financial and family status, as well as an overview of their previous life in society and, finally, in penitentiary conditions. The qualitative research undertaken by the Author did not make it possible to draw general conclusions, particularly since the cases studied were so few. But one can compare the studied perpetrators to the ‘statistical’ or ‘typical’ inmate doing time in prison. The literature on the subject indicates that most such inmates are single, young, unemployed, without work habits, they have gaps in their education, are alcohol or substance abusers and come from difficult homes. In prison, they lack external support, which makes their later social adaptation more difficult.The perpetrators studied as part of the research described here were much older and better educated than ‘typical’ convicts. They were relatively well-off, with stable incomes, and came from non-pathological homes. Their families were also evaluated positively by probation services, the police and neighbours. Before their stay in prison they had been involved in community initiatives, they were good husbands and fathers, active in the local community and the Church, without alcohol or substance abuse problems. While serving their sentences they received support from family and figures of authority esteemed in the local community. The Prison Service considered them well adapted to prison conditions, calm, often rewarded, obeying the rules, active, highly respected by other inmates, willingly performing unpaid work in behalf of the penitentiary facility and cooperating with the prison administration. The research material presented only represents two cases; it therefore does not make it possible to draw general conclusions, yet it does highlight certain problems and areas for further research. At the same time it is for the Author a point of departure for reflection on the legal and judicial level of sentences against ‘white collars’ and the way such sentences are enforced.

197-230

Authors: Kamil Miszewski

In his 1940 book, The Prison Community, Donald Clemmer introduced the term ‘prisonisation’ into criminal science. This notion expresses the view that as the inmate continues to serve their sentence, their mental and physical health sees a continual decline; the inmate becomes more and more involved in destructive activity as part of the prison subculture, prisons as such being responsible for these negative developments. Erving Goffman, who coined the term ‘total institution’, speaks in a similar tone, describing prison as a place where the individual self is forcibly remoulded. We could also add Gresham Sykes to this group of theorists, with his conception of the ‘pain of imprisonment’, i.e. types of deprivation that every inmate experiences while in detention. But are these gentlemen not exaggerating? Does the prisoner really stand no chance of adapting to imprisonment in a way that would leave his or her mental and physical health intact?The European Committee on Crime Problems, set up in 1957, is an organ of the Council of Europe. It has drafted many international agreements and European conventions, including Resolution 76/2 on the Treatment of Long-term Prisoners, adopted by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 17 February 1976. The resolution draft was preceded by a report from two years of research on, inter alia, the consequences of long-term imprisonment, including psychiatric and psychological studies. As Elżbieta Janiszewska-Talago writes, the psychiatric studies indicated that after 4-6 years of imprisonment inmates were subject to the occurrence of a functional psycho-syndrome which could be called the isolation syndrome, leading to overall decline of intellectual function, lower concentration, stereotypical and monotonous reactions, and loss of one’s sense of reality. The occurrence of this syndrome depended on the personality of the inmate, their age, how long they had been detained, and the routine (rules) followed in the penitentiary facility. The longer the term of imprisonment and the more intense the isolation, the more the nervous defence mechanisms of the inmate deteriorated and the symptoms enumerated above became more frequent. Yet, as Janiszewska-Talago continues, the psychological research indicated quite the contrary. ‘It did not discover any case of loss of overall intelligence that would be proportional to the length of time spent in prison, in fact to the contrary – a statistically significant improvement was noted. Meanwhile motor reactions had declined and a significant drop in the averages pertaining to extraversion was reported. As a result, no mental decline was found to have occurred among long-term prisoners, nor was there any advanced deterioration of cognitive function or personality traits during the time in prison’ (Janiszewska-Talago 1980: 39). In light of these discrepant findings, the Committee concluded that the consequences of long-term imprisonment depended on the convict’s personality, the social circle they belonged to in prison, their opportunities to interact, develop and make decisions regarding themselves as well as the strictness of the rules followed in the prison. Since the 1960s there has been ongoing discussion in English-language literature regarding the harmfulness of imprisonment (it continues today [Hulley, Crewe, Wright 2015]). To my knowledge no one has yet unequivocally proven that such harmfulness is the case. What is striking, moreover, is that the condition of many long-term prisoners actually improves. This does not mean that mental or physical deterioration never occurs, but no one really knows what factors are responsible. Laying the blame on long-term imprisonment is a shortcut, an oversimplification that proves true every once in a while, seemingly at random. I try to present a comprehensive overview of the large body of works on this subject. At the end I present my own findings from research on long-term prisoners carried out in Polish prisons. Although my research did not relate directly to the issue of the harmfulness/harmlessness of long-imprisonment (I studied inmates’ ways of adapting to prison conditions over the course of at least 20 years, their involvement in work, study, ways of spending free time, strength of attachment to family, relations with prison staff and many other issues), yet is casts a certain light on the problem.

249-272

Authors: Maria Ejchart-Dubois, Monika Markowska

According to Polish Penitentiary Service statistics, there were 2131 women serving sentences in Polish prisons as of January 2016, 400 of whom had been convicted for homicide. 13 were serving life sentences. The article describes our research on three women who were the first to be sentenced to life imprisonment in Poland and have already served 19 years of their sentences. During this time, each was transferred to another penitentiary facility at least a couple of times, and changed cells and cellmates several times. Each encountered several dozen educators, psychologists, wardens, and prison directors. This long period also saw significant changes in their family status. The places where they were confined and the people they had met impacted the way each functioned in prison. Our research consisted in an analysis of court records: the sentences, expert, psychiatric and psychological opinions, as well as other documents produced during the course of criminal proceedings, including media reports and prison records (personal file B). Open interviews with the women were a vital component of the study – we met with each inmate at least once and conducted a three-hour interview at her place of detention. The study was carried out between May 2015 and February 2016.By analysing the material collected, we created a criminal profile of each of the women, who had spent the last 19 years in prison. We described the evolution of their attitudes towards the crime and the trial, as well as their outlook as it had evolved throughout their time in prison; their life goals, and the influence of external circumstances (such as their place of confinement and the type of contacts each had with the outside world) on their lives and life plans. It proved extremely difficult to say who these women are. They have not confessed to the crimes for which they were sentenced and have spent a great part of their lives in prison, living without the prospect of being released at any specific time. Their functioning in prison does not match any of the adaptation strategies described in the literature on the subject. The aim of our research was also to determine the purpose of life imprisonment. The question becomes particularly important as the date approaches when these women, the first to be sentenced to this extreme form of punishment, will acquire the right to apply for parole. Our analysis of the way these women have been serving their life sentences shows that Prison Service officers consider the main purpose of life imprisonment to be isolation. This view is not surprising, yet one must ask whether after 20 years in prison one would not do well to reconsider the hierarchy of goals that are to be served by imprisonment. It is beyond doubt that the way the women have been serving their sentences has been influenced by their attitude to the crime and by the fact that none of them had ever admitted her guilt. At the same time none of them denies her responsibility as a participant of the event. Because none of the women studied had ‘killed someone with her own hands’, they are in a convenient psychological position. They do not have to come to terms with having deprived another human being of life, although they do not deny their complicity. Their attitude to the committed crimes might prove decisive when applying for parole. Our research does not provide unequivocal answers to the questions we set out to answer, yet it proves that serving very long sentences should involve planning. The way the women function shows that they themselves largely organise their time in prison, seek work as well as educational, cultural and sports opportunities. The restraint shown by the prison authorities in offering such activities comes from the fact that a life sentence means that working with this category of inmates can always be put off till later. This was evidenced by the vague and general formulation of the goals each of the female inmates had in her individual programme. The place of detention is another important factor when it comes to quality of life in prison. Penitentiary facilities differ in terms of their architectural arrangements, the conditions of imprisonment, but also in terms of the types of activities offered, the possibility of taking up work and study, and the relations between prison staff and inmates. By observing their attitude today, we can conclude that each woman has put her time in prison to a different use. We don’t know what the prison administration and penitentiary court will make of this when the convicts apply for parole. To assess whether the inmates have changed it will not be enough to examine their behaviour and the number of times applications were put in to reward or punish them. We need intensive work with the inmates, in-depth observation and an examination of their personalities, which should be carried out by a qualified psychologist. Yet such opinions are lacking in the penitentiary records of the studied inmates. It is difficult to plan an adequate course of action without assessing the inmates’ current deficits and needs. The studied women each chose a different path for herself. M.R. is succumbing to unconscious degeneration and resignation. She is calculating; she knows how to survive in prison, yet she deeply resents this place. M.O. is the most uncertain and emotionally unstable, one doesn’t know what to expect of her, but as long she does not absorb the attention of the prison staff, they show little interest in her. M.Sz. is the ‘safest’ from the standpoint of the Prison Service; her attitude often evokes surprise that one can be doing so well in prison with a life sentence. One might get the impression that she is acting, but is it possible to pretend for almost 20 years?Because life imprisonment has no fixed term, it seems rational to treat it as a chance to improve one’s life, even if one never leaves the prison walls. This task requires making the inmates feel responsible for every possible area of their lives. Each of the examined women put the opportunities available to her to a different use. The quarter century after which they will be able to apply for a court review of their punishment is a long time, which they, for most part, have not taken full advantage of.

315-338

Authors: Małgorzata Dziewanowska

GUS (Polish Central Statistical Office) statistics indicate that around 3.5% of children born in 2014, that is some 13,000 children, were born to teenage mothers. Out of this number, around 50-60 children were born to 13-14-year-olds, which means that the pregnancy had resulted from a criminal offense. These figures are also due to the decreasing age of sexual initiation among youth, a low quality or absence of sexual education in schools, as well as limited access to information and family planning. The current legal framework and circumstances also impact the condition of young women who get pregnant while in the care of rehabilitation centres. It is difficult to find comprehensive publications devoted to teenage mothers – girls who were placed in a youth care or a juvenile centre due to having committed a criminal offense or because of profound demoralisation – that would discuss both the legal issues and practical solutions applied in different centres. The problem is an important one, however, because it highlights systemic shortcomings when it comes to supporting mothers and babies in such institutions as well as the vast room that is left for violations of children’s basic rights, such as the right to be brought up by one’s biological parents and to maintain an unbroken emotional bond with them. The article examines the legal status of teenage mothers and the practical solutions applied at different rehabilitation centres. The aim is to present all the possibilities of helping teenage mothers in the care of youth care centres or juvenile centres, who are going through crisis and require external support, for example in the form of basic legal provisions and solutions regarding the placement and stay of juveniles in rehabilitation centres, the types of rehabilitation measures available or subsequent public help for young women leaving such centres. The Author discusses Polish legal provisions designed to protect motherhood as well as a range of important issues related to juvenile pregnancy, such as school duty or access to medical services. Also discussed are the state’s most recently adopted measures to support motherhood, showing a need to provide additional aid for this group of beneficiaries, with particular emphasis on access to benefits for juvenile mothers living in rehabilitation centres. The article also presents practical solutions introduced by the staff at different centres, aiming to fill the gaps in the law when it comes to acknowledging the bond between a biological, though juvenile, mother and her child, which often isn’t appreciated enough. The featured examples are drawn from information collected by Po DRUGIE Foundation which helps former residents of rehabilitation centres, as well as from ethnographic research carried out for a current project to set up a care institution for juvenile pregnant women and juvenile women with children, allowing them to continue their rehabilitation beyond a centre. The article highlights numerous state measures to provide multi-faceted support for motherhood and parenthood in Poland, while at the same time pointing to the systemic discrimination of girls from juvenile centres, who are thoughtlessly deprived of the chance to take responsibility for their children or, if given such a chance, lose the support of the institutions obligated to resocialise them. The Po DRUGIE Foundation project aims to fill these gaps, both in the law, by developing provisions to provide care both for juvenile mothers and their children, and on the ground, by setting up an institution dedicated to this group of recipients.

369-389

Authors: Piotr Chomczyński

The aim of the article is to present a number of methodological conclusions drawn in the course of research on social stigmatization. The Author discusses the methodology of a social experiment involving the use of photographs as part of open interviews and focus group study. The photographs of people had been selected according to a pre-determined set of criteria and were used to elicit responses shedding light on how the subjects associated a person’s physical appearance with an alleged propensity for committing crimes. The use of photographic material made it possible to discover the real views of the subjects – often contrary to those they claimed to hold prior to seeing the visual materials. One may therefore assume that within the strictly controlled conditions of the experiment, iconography played an important role in demystifying stigmatizing behaviour. The goal of the experiment was to determine factors and processes that are normally hidden and which, although natural and part of our observation spectrum, for obvious reasons are subjected to political correctness and usually not voluntarily revealed. The rules of social co-existence require us to obey certain norms and often to conceal what we really think and act upon. This does not mean that the said factors are insignificant. In my view, they are often decisive and lead to cognitive dissonance whenever our beliefs and actions diverge. In the case of the said experiment, a discrepancy was observed between the attitudes of the subjects before and after they were confronted with the photographs. They exhibited more spontaneous behaviour and statements, there was also a change in their opinions and they produced all sorts of evidence and examples which in their view supported their newly revealed ideas. Studies of open interview and focus group techniques lead to the conclusion that visual materials can add to these techniques, making them more ‘friendly’ and balancing the asymmetrical relationship between subject and researcher while also making it easier to extract information subject to social taboos. In the study under discussion, the photographs were a catalyst in getting the subjects to reveal opinions they had previously largely concealed. Yet it must be borne in mind that the experiment requires a careful selection of appropriate photographs so that the subjects do not form new opinions but only reveal those already held yet not expressed. Otherwise these types of studies will not shed light on existing phenomena but rather create new ones, which leaves an ethical question mark when it comes to the purpose of such studies. It is worth adding that the experiment corresponds to various processes occurring in our world, including various ethnocentric and xenophobic movements, today on the rise. The logic behind the experiment seems universal enough to allow its application in studying the perception of other social groups at risk of marginalization and stigmatization. I am thinking particularly of the great migrations of today which are changing the ethnic face of Europe.

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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.