Archiwum Kryminologii (Archives of Criminology)

33-93

Authors: Andrzej Siemaszko

Self-report studies are gradually becoming the predominating current of empirical research in criminology. This is particularly the case with etiological studies of deviant behaviour in young persons. However, the present popularity of self-report studies is not accompanied by improvement of their methodological aspect. No important development of the methodology of these studies has occured since the pioneer works of Short and Nye. It is the fundamental aim of the present paper to point to these of the methodological questions on which the further development of self-report studies will depend most. In Chapter I, the first works have been discussed in which the self-report methods were applied. The works anaiyzed are those of Murphy at al. Porterfield, as well as Wallerstein and Wy1e. Particular attention has been given to the methodological and substantive aspects of the series of studies carried out by Short and Nye. Chapter II contains the presentation of findings of the Polish self-report studies. The first attempt at a self-report study was made in the early 1960s by Malewska and Muszyński. A national random sample of pupils of the sixth grade of primary school n =2,222) was examined by means of an anonymous questionnaire. The basic aim of the study was to define the children's attitude towards the ownership rights and the situations in which violation of these rights is admissible. Besides, the authors were interested in how children perceived given situations to be thefts. Thus the question whether the respondents ever happened to take another person’s property was but a fragment of the questionnaire which served another purpose in its essence. To the question: "How often do you happen to take another person's property?", 0.8 per cent of the children answered ,,very often," 4.2 pet cent - "often," 26.6 per cent - "sometimes," and. 34.5 per cent-,,seldom’’ Like Malewska and Muszyński, also Szemińska and Gołąb aimed at defining the moral sense of young persons: pupils of primary schools (n=61) and inmates of educational institutions (n= 64), asking also about the extent and structure of deviant behaviour. The respondents answered anonymously in writing. The two compared groups of boys differed from each other considerably as far as both the frequency and the seriousness of thefts commited was concerned. While the majority of "delinquents" admitted a large number of thefts, the "nondelinquents" 'in their vast majority owned up to 1-2 thefts at most, mostly of small objects they stole from their classmates or next of kin with the intention to use these objects themselves." The study of Szemińska and Gołąb raises doubts, both as regards its merits and methodology. Among other things, in spite of the fact that various offences were committed by both of the discussed groups, the authors use a dichotomic pair of notions: delinquent and non-delinquent, failing to put these words in quotation marks which are necessary in this situation. In the years 1976-1977, Ostrihanska and Wójcik conducted a large self-report study of a random sample of pupils of grades 3-8 of Warsaw primary schools. 50 schools were selected at random, in which the study was carried out by means of a questionnaire in 120 classes, also randomly selected (n=3,177, of which there were 1,631 boys and 1,546 girls). The self-report study was part of a broader research programme aimed at estimating the extent of social maladjustment in the youth and defining its causes. Among other things, the questions concerned the following phenomena: school failures, truancy, running away from home, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, free riding, destroying another person’s property, other acts against property (including thefts, frauds, robbery-,,taking something from a younger child by constraint"). The possible answers were as follows: ,,never", ,,once'’, ,,2-3 times’’, ,,4-10 times’’, ,,more frequently’’ . As expected, both the extent and intensity (frequency of perpetration) of deviant behaviour were higher in the group of boys as compared with girls. For instance, as few as 15.3 per cent of the eldest boys (aged 15) stated that they never took another person's property while the percentage of non-stealing girls among the eldest group was over two times higher (38.0 per cent) In this age group 16.3 per cent of boys stole a dozen or more times, while percentage of girls who committed multiple thefts amounted to as few as 1.4 Instead, no greater differences were found between boys and girls who admitted having stolen once. In boys, the most frequent were thefts from allotments and gardens (35.2 per cent), thefts from parents (22.8 per cent) and thefts in self-service shops 18.1 per cent). On the other hand the most seldom were thefts from cellars (5.8 per cent), and thefts of wine in shops (9.7 per cent). Taking another person’s property ranked fourth among the types of deviant acts included IN the study The first position was taken by lies (88.8 per cent of answers in the affirmative). Near1y 90 per cent of boys admitted having chribbed anothe child’s exercise, 25.2 per cent- having destroyed property 2.8 per cent ran away from home, and 2.4 per cent tock drugs. There was an upward tendency with age: elder boys admitted a greater number of deviant acts, and actuallv commited these acts more frequently. The next self-report study was conducted by Ostrowska and Siemaszko in 1979. It included 2,991 pupils of Warsaw secondary schools (1,197 boys and 1,795 girls). Non-random selection was applied. Young persons of the first and last grades were examined by means of anonymous questionnaire. Among other variables, it contained a list of 42 questions about various types of deviant behaviour, acts of infringement of disciplinary regulations, transgressions and offences, from most trivial (like stealing a ride or failing to return change from shopping) to comparatively serious like house-breaking or robbery. All questions had the same set of possible answers: "never," "once of twice," several times," "a dozen or more-times," ,,more frequently." The examined young persons were characterized by rather a high level of deviance. In the group of boys for instance,539 persons (30.9 per cent) admitted having perpetrated a half of the 42 acts included in the questionnaire at least once, 2.8 per cent of them having committed 27 to 31 acts, and 2.3 per cent-32 to 42 acts. Thus together, 6 per cent of the examined boys were highly deviant. Since the study also revealed a close relationship between the number of acts committed and the frequency of their perpetration, the abovementioned 6 per cent of the examined persons (about 300 boys) are "multiple recidivists" in the interpretation used in self-report studies. Considerable differences in the level of deviant behaviour were found in respect of age and sex. For instance, the level of deviance in the group of elder boys was four times higher on average as compared with younger girls. Among the most widespread acts there were free riding (94,6 per cent of girls and 96. 1 per cent of boys), failure to return change from shopping (79.6 and 84.1 per cent respectively), petty frauds in shops (67.6 and 84.0 per cent respectively), and failure to return a found object to its owner (69.9 per cent of girls and 83.8 per cent of boys). Aggressive acts were relatively frequent, particularly among boys. Battery "without an explicit causes” was comitted by 20.2 per cent of boys and 6.5 per cent of girls.11.6 per cent of boys and 2.8 per cent of girls participated in affrays in which dangerous weapons were used. Among thefts, comparatively less serious acts predominated. 16.9 per cent of girls and 31.6 per cent of boys admitted having perpetrated petty thefts. 8.2 per cent of girls and 14.6 per cent of boys stole change from call-boxes. Serious thefts were committed by 1.6 per cent of girls and 4.6 per cent of boys. Ostrowska and Siemaszko repeated their study in 1981 on a random sample of students of secondary schools in five typically agricultural provinces. 2,144 persons (1,702 boys and 420 girls) aged 14-19, students of 29 schools, were examined. They young persons who participated in the study went to :89 classes that were selected at random. The extent and structure of deviant behaviour were examined by means of a questionnaire identical to the one applied in the previous study Also the way in which the study was carried out in the classes was the same. In the group of acts termed insubordination, the most widespread one was smoking at under: 14:78,2 per cent of boys and 44,8 per cent of girls admitted it. Somewhat less than 10per cent of the examined persons admitted having run away from home, 2 per cent of them having run away several times. Over 20 per cent of the respondents admitted having had their identity papers checked by the police (30 per cent of boys) and somewhat less than 7 per cent took drugs. Among various types of dishonest behaviour the most widespread one was free riding- over 80 per cent. Nearly a half of the examined persons admitted having failed to return a borrowed object; 7 per cent of them did it repeatedly Also nearly 50 per cent of the respondents stole money from their parents:15 per cent of them did it several times, and 5.6 per cent-more frequently. In the group of offences, thefts predominated. 24.9 per cent of girls and 32.4 per cent of boys admitted having stolen an object or money to the value of under 100 złotys (the percentage amounting to 38.6 in the group of eldest boys); nearly 20 per cent of them repeatedly stole money from their parents. About 25 per cent of the examined persons committed shop- lifting, the percentage of shop-lifters in the group of eldest boys exceeding 40. The acts of breaking into cellars, recesses, attics etc., were committed by 15 per cent of the respondents 6.1 per cent of girls and 17.2 per cent of boys. The most seldom offences against property were: robbery (2.4 per cent of girls, 10.1 per cent of boys), stealing from call-boxes (6.6 per cent of girls, 7.8 per cent of boys), thefts of money to the amount of 500-1000 złotys (6 .2 per cent of girls, 7.0 per cent of boys), failure to pay the bill in a restaurant (3.3 per cent of girls, 5.6 per cent of boys) and thefts of over 1 000 zlotys (2.8 per cent of girls and 5.6 per cent of boys). Among aggressive behavior, brawls and beatings prevailed (25 per cent of girls and 50 per cent of' boys). In Chapter III the most important methodological problems related to self-report studies are discussed. In self-report studies, both direct (e. g. ,,have you stolen), and indirect and euphemistic questions (e, g. ,,have you ever happened to take and not to give back. ") can be found. The indirect questions undoubtedly less threatening. Yet on the other hand, those asked directly are probably easier to interpret explicitly. There is no proof as to the superiority of any of these ways of asking. However indirect and euphemistic questions prevail in self-report studies. The degree of abstractness of questions varies. The good point of clearcut questions (e.g. ''have you ever taken and failed to give back some article in a supermarket") is that the highly detailed formulation may help the respondent to recall an event which the researcher is interested in. On the other hand, their weak point is that the respondent cannot be relied upon to admit having acted in another, very similar yet not identical way. Unfortunately, the majority of self-report questionnaires contain questions about inseparate classes of phenomena. Hence the danger of one and the same act being counted several times. In self-report studies, the number of questions about deviant behavior is an important problem. One should bean it in mind that the deviant acts taken into account by the researcher are always nothing but a certain sample of the totality of such acts, the parameters of which are usually unknown (e.g. Christie et al.). The greater the number of acts taken into account, the more standard the "sample of acts" seems to be with respect to the "totality of acts." There are great differences as regards the number of acts included: from several (e.g. Hirschi, Dentler and Monroe) up to several dozen (e.g. Gibson). Today time limits are usually introducted as regards the period between the act and the moment of examination one year as a rule), though Short and Nye introducted no limits as regards the period during which the respondents committed the admitted acts. Shorter periods can also be found. (e.g. Simone et al, - 2 months, Lipton and Smith - 18 months). The limits are among the most important problems in self-report studies, since it is on them that the estimation depends on the level of deviance of the entire examined group, as well as the precise estimation of the separate respondents levels of deviance. The views on the optimum time limits are not uniform. Different sets of possible answers to the questions about deviant behaviour can be found: from most precise (e.g. "once," "twice," etc.) to most general and ambigous (e.g. "seldom," ,,frequently"). A strictly enumerative set of answers may be methodologically correct only in the case of a short period (one year or less). In the remaining cases, this set may be misleading as one hardly expects the examined persons to remember past events with such accuracy. The questions about deviant behaviour may constitute a separate block (nay a separate questionnaire), or they may be put among other questions. There are no studies showing the good and weak points of each of these two solutions. It seems more proper however, to "mask" the aim of the study by interlarding the questions about deviant behaviour with those neutral or concerning "acts of kindness." When the level or "depth" of the examined person's deviant involvement is defined, an important problem emerges: acts with different "charges of deviance are taken into account here. Therefore, one can either try and attach different weights to them, or treat all of them as equally serious. Christie et al. ranked acts according to the judges opinion. Morash weighted them with the use of Selling and Wolfgang's scale of seriousness of offences. In Hindelang's study, the weight of acts was defined by specialists by means of a fivepoint scale. Hepburn weighted deviant acts basing on appraisals done by the examined persons themselves. However in the vast majority of self-report studies, no weigh ting procedure is applled. As shown by Farrington, weighting procedures fail to contribute substantially to the increase in accuracy of measurement. An anonymous questionnaire, though most frequentlv applied, is not the only method of gathering information about unrecorded deviant behaviour. E, g. Gold (and other researchers who applied Gold’s scale) employed a questionnaire interview In Belson's study a card sorting procedure was applied. This method of gathering information is particularly popular in England (see also Gibson, Farrington, West, Morash, Shapland). Hirschi examined his respondents with a signed questionnaire. Should the differences in veracity of answeers of a signed and anonymous questionnaire prove to be inessential (and there is much to be said for it, e.g. Krohn, Waldo and Chiracos), it would be advisable to use the signed version (because of the possibility of comparing the separate sociometric choices or comparing the findings with external sources of information). The main objection raised to self-report studies concerns the doubtful veracity of the data gathered this way (Dentler, Liska). A relatively small number of studies concerned the reliability of self-report studies, e.g. the stability of findings in time. This is the most difficult problem in the case of a strictly anonymous questionnaire as the separate respondents cannot be retest. Only global distributions are compared then (e.g the scores of respondents in a given class) Siemaszko finds no valid differences between the distributions answers about deviant acts between a test and a retest which took place there months later. Dentler and Monroe found that 92 per cent of answers to a test and a retest two weeks 1ater were consistent, yet the respondents could still have remembered their previous answers in this case. Belson conducted a retest after a shorter period still: one week. The percentage of consistent answers amounted to 88. Also Farrington’s study revealed rarther a high degree of consistency in spite of the two year's interval. The percentage of mistakes in the test or retest was 3.2 The tendency to inconsistent answers was less explicit if the general scores of the examined persons on the deviance scales were analyzed and not the proportion of their affirmative and negative answers to the separate questions (11.5 per cent of the, examined persons found themselves in another quartile than Before). The results obtained by Shapland were parallel. The results seem to point to a high stability of self-report questionnaires in time. Hardt and Peterson-Hardt distinguish the following methods of defining the validity of self-report questionnaires: comparing with external sources of information, comparing with a known group, lie scales, and defining face validity. The most frequent method of defining the validity of questionnaires used in examination of unrecorded deviant behaviour is the comparison of the respondents' answers with other reliable sources of information. Erickson and Empey found that none of their respondents concealed their contact with the police or an offence with which they were charged. According to Gold, the probability of contacts with the police diminishes monotonically together with decrease of frequency of offences admitted during the examination. Gibson, Morrison and West found a high consistency between offences revealed by means of the self-report method and the contents of the police files. Hindelang found a distinct positive interdependence between high scores in the deviance scale and having a record in the police files. Farrington, as well as Farrington and West, examined the so-called predictive validity of self-report questionnaires. It appeared that those of the examined persons who score highest in deviance scales at the moment. A, have records in the police files much more frequently at the moment B. Gould compared the scores in the Short,/Nye scale with those in the recorded crime scale, finding a high, positive and valid interdependence. Results of self-report tests were also compared with other sources of information (teachers, colleagues, social workers, etc.). As shown by Jessor, Graves, Hanson and Jessor, results of the self-report tests tally with appraisals of the degree of deviant involvement made by teachers and colleagues of the examined persons. Also Gould compared the respondents' statements with appraisals of their behaviour made by their colleagues and teachers. The interdependence proved to be as expected. Hardt and Peterson-Hardt compared statements in which the examined persons admitted having robbed parkometers with the official data concerning the extent of these thefts. The respondents appeared to have answered truthfully. In many studies scores of school children and of institutionalized youth were compared. As demonstrated already by Short and Nye, although the inmates of reformatories scored somewhat higher than students of normal schools, nevertheless the profiles of distributions and their structure were analogous. Voss found the correlates of deviance in groups of school children and institutionalized youth to be parallel. This finding was confirmed in many other studies. The only exception here is the parents socio-economic status. Uniformity of views could not have been reached as yet as to whether the positive interdependence between the socio-economic status and deviant behaviour found in the majority of self-report studies is artificial or real (see i.a. Tribble, Axenroth, Hindelang Hirschi and Waise). Much can be said about the validity of a self-report questionnaire only on the grounds of the distributions of answers to the separate questions, Siemaszko found the percentage of affirmative answers to decrease monotonically with the increase of seriousness of the act and its scarcity in the general population. In the same study the percentage of affirmative answers to the question about being checked by the police was found to be higher than that concerning detention: also the level of deviance of elder as compared with younger and boys as compared with girls proved higher, These results agree with theoretical expectations, Hardt and Peterson-Hardt found the percentage of affirmative answers to the questions about acts commited during the last year to be generally lower than it is the case with questions that concerned also acts commited longer before. Not all of self-report questionnaires contain lie scales. Moreover, the researchers are not in agreeement as to the usefulness of such scales this type of studies (i.a. Farrington, Smart, Hardt, Peterson- Hardt). I seems that lie scales should be employed Questions should however be avoided which might be correlated with deviant behaviour, as in such case there is the danger of the lie scale becoming the reverse of that of deviance. The popularity of self-report studies was determined by the effectiveness of this method (relatively low cost 1ittle time consuming, promptitude and the possibility of examining large samples) Today, self-report studies have become popular in spite of the fact that many important methodological problems have not been solved yet.

153-202

Authors: Regina Rożeńska, Rafał Przybysz, Jolanta Szamburska

The paper has been devoted to the discussion of the findings of an interdisciplinary empirical study of the phenomenon of evasion of work. An attempt was made in the study to reach the psycho-social and biological conditions of attitudes towards work. From among the properties that characterize the group of persons evading work, the authors were particularly interessted in: the degree of professional destabilization, committing offences excessive drinking, family destabilization, psychological variables, and state of health. Subjects of the study were men aged 30-31 from the city of Łódź, registered as evading work in the employment agency and in social-administrative divisions of the state administrative agencies. Among all of the persons registered in the above-mentioned age group, most motions concern a group of 103 persons (NP). These 103 persons were submitted to direct medical, psychological and sociological examination, while a number of data concerning the entire group of 843 persons were gathered by means of indirect methods (analysis of documents). The latter made it possible to describe in more detail problems as important as crime, excessive drinking or state of health. As a control group, a group of 204 men (P) working in great industrial plants in Łódź was examined by means of all of the above-mentioned methods. 8 hypotheses have been formula ted that expressed the relations between the separate characteristics of the examined persons. Not all of these hypotheses have been verified acording to our theoretical expectations. To mention the most important conclusions only, it should be stated that about one-fourth of the total of 845 men were fit for being taken off the register of persons evading work. None on these persons were included in the basic 103-person sample; yet this group was examined for pragmatic reasons together with the population in the case of which indirect of examination were applied (analysis of documents). Another finding that might seem interesting is that 13 per cent of the examined persons may be suspected with high probability of having seemingly taken a job in order to circumvent the law. From among other data concerning the entire 845-person population the fact should be taken into consideration that 22.7 per cent of them are treated in mental health and (or in withdrawal clinics, with the majority treated in the former), and that 49,5 per cent of them have committed offences (transgression left out of account), the majority committing the same type of offence repeatedly. As far as the basic group of 103 persons is concerned, one of its most important traits appears to be extensive drinking and crime. The latter shows a somewhat greater intensity as compared with the entire population; as many as 54.5 per cent of persons committed offences, and over 60 per cent of them are recidivists. Crime can be found but in isolated cases in the group of working men (5 per cent). The kind of offences committed in the group of persons evading work seems symptomatic. Their offences are poorly differentiated and practically resolve themselves to three groups: 1 ) against the property; 2) against person; 3) against family with an emphatic prevalence of those of the first group. This structure may be recognized as typical of the population of persons who evade work. The predomination of various kinds of thefts, mostly petty ones, may be treated as the way of securing material resources which for various reasons are not secured in socially accepted ways. A nearly complete absence of serious and most serious offences testifies to a specific type of demoralization which is however not dangerous to the society. One can also speak in earnest of high intensity of alcoholism in this group. About two-thirds of men drink excessively; over a half of those drinking are alcohol dependent. Generally speaking, the basic problem of destabilization of the professional career may be expressed as follows: Near1y 20 per cent (of the 103-persons group) reveal symptoms of complete professional destabilization, and 35 per cent are considerablv destabilized. A slight degree of professional destabilization can be found in 10 per cent, while in the group of working men (P) this category (together with that characterized by full stabilization) is most numerous one, amounting to nearly 90 per cent. It should also be added that in the latter group (P) there is a number of persons (10.5 per cent) who reveal a considerable degree of professional destabilization.(The index of professional stabilization included among other things number of years in work number of practised professions, length of employment in the trained profession, number of workplaces in which the given person was employed, kinds and lengths of intervals employment). State of health undoubtedly plays an important part in professional stabilization. The data from this field point to a considerable decrease of the ability to work. The percentage of persons with disorders of somatic health is high and amounts in the groups NP and P to 91.1 and 88. 8 per cent respectively; these disorders are however of a varying character, with serious ones found in 36 and 21 per cent of groups NP and P respectively. in the unemployed group, the percentage of persons whose diseases are related to their lack of personal hygiene and irrational mode of life (e.g. excessive drinking) is significantly higher. Hence the frequent gastroduodenal troubles, diseases of the urogenital system, and the serious though underrated lesions of dentition. Moreover, in as many as 67 per cent cases in this group, tattooings and self-mutilations characteristic of the delinquent subculture could be found. As far as the examined persons mental condition is concerned, psychopathic personality disorders can be noticed to predominate decidedly in the group NP-41 per cent; in 18 per cent of these persons, organic grounds of the discovered troubles can be suspected (lesions of the central nervous system); in 4 cases, epilepsy was diagnosed. Evident disorders of psychic function which limited the ability to work were found in 15 per cent of persons in the unemployed group; slight disorders- in 28 per cent; and trivial ones - in 47 per cent. In group P, the percentages were 2.3 and as many as 52 respectively. The state of somatic and mental health served as the base for the given person's ability to work. In none of the cases permanent (complete) inability to work was found; 12 per cent had a seriously, 39 per cent significantly, and 33 per cent - slightly limited ability to work (in group P ,5.4;20; and 29 per cent respectively). It may be concluded that significant health troubles (all the more those less serious) do not necessarily constitute a sufficient excuse for renouncing professional activity (not in every case at any rate). The fact should however be taken into consideration that excessive drinking frequently found in the cases of persons evading work and the possible organic background of psychopathic personality disorders many of them are suffering from, may disturb their proper attitude towards work and constitute a relative premise to recognize their ability to work to be lowered, particularly if work is interpreted as a permanent employment. The level of intelligence fails to differentiate the examined groups if their level of education is taken into account. As regards psychological variables, the element which particularly differentiates the two examined groups is a specific type of attitude towards values and ones own development which renders it impossible to define explicitly the probable future course of behaviour. This type of attitude is found most frequently in those who do not work. Favourable attitudes, admittedly characteristic of the working persons (79.6 per cent), can nevertheless also be found in these evading work (47.3 per cent). Also the fact seems worthy of attention that explicitly negative attitudes occur with a similar frequency in both of the examined groups (P-9.7; NP - 14 per cent). Besides the general description of the traits that characterized persons who evade work, also the relations between the separate properties seem even more important as they provide information about the coexistence of various phenomena thus making it possible to draw more or less correct conclusions as to the causality of various kinds of behaviour. In one study, an attempt was made to follow about 40 types of mutual conditions of the analyzed traits. Using statistical measures of dependence between the variables in two cases a very high, in 7 cases-high, and in 15 cases-an average level of the strength of correlation between variables was found. The most strongly correlated phenomena are those of destabilization and crime on the one hand, and of excessive drinking and the state of mental health on the other hand. A high level of correlation can be found first or all between professional destabilization and excessive drinking, and between the state of mental health and professional destabilization. Instead some of the expected interdependences were not confirmed. There are among them the relation between professional destabilization and the state of somatic health, excessive drinking and the state of somatic health, early educational problems and professional destabilization. To sum up the above random data, it may be stated that persons who evade work greatly "outpace" those who are employed as regards all of the negative aspects analyzed in the study, this difference being only too evident regarding the. particularly pathological types of behaviour such as crime and excessive drinking. This concerns first and foremost the central issue of professional destabilization. The group of persons who evade work is greatly differentiated in many respects and one can hardly apply towards these persons identical diagnostic and prognostic criteria. There is no doubt, however, that when intending to shape a proper attitude towards work, one should focus ones attention on four planes of the individual's life situation. They are: the family and school milieu, the individual's own vision of his professional activity, the working environment interpreted as the sum of chances and limitations of human activity, and disfunctional behaviour (crime and excessive drinking). In our opinion, also other reference systems should not be left out of account, which undoubtedly play important part in the individuals shaping of his vision of professional activity.

251-286

Authors: Antoni Bielewicz

The phenomenon of drug addiction has been known in Poland for at least several dozen years. In the period of the second Republic, it was not a major social problem. In 1933, the total of 295 addicts were hospitalized in Poland. According to pre-war researchers, the number of drug addicts could be estimated at over 5 thousand persons in the early 1930s. The pre-war addicts took first of all classic drugs: morphine, heroin, and cocaine. Also codeine, Somniphrene and Pantopon were rather frequently taken. Less frequent was the use of hashish, mescaline and peyotl. Headache wafers played the part of substitutes. According to the data of the health service and the Warsaw public prosecutor's office, about three – fourth of drug addicts were men. Most addicts were in their thirties; hardly any could be found among the youth, as far as morphinism is concerned in particular. This type of addiction could be found nearly exclusively among persons aged over 30. The situation shaped ,somewhat differently as regards codeine addicts: also younger persons. could be found in this group. In the socio professional structure of addicts included in the files of the Warsaw public prosecutor's office, clerks prevailed; their percentage amounting to 30. The second most numerous group were craftsmen and tradesmen-,13 per cent, and the third on -representatives of medical professions (chemists, doctors, surgeon, assistants, nurses, midwifes) of whom there were 9 per cent. The percentage of workers was 2, of prostitutes-5, and artists-4. In the opinion of the most of the pre-war researchers, the above socio-professional structure is distorted. According to them, drug-addiction was much more widespread among officers (of the air force and navy in particular), artists, writers and journalists. As regards religion, pre-war addicts constituted as varied a mosaic as the entire society in those days. There were among them representatives of all of the most numerous religious groups then found in Poland. Roman Catholics were most, and members of the orthodox church-least :susceptible to drug addiction. The pre-war researchers of drug addiction devoted a lot of attention to the problem of etiology of this ,,social disease'' Some of them stressed above all the medical-others-the economic and political, and still others - the cultural or those related to civilization causes. There were also conceptions that laid particular emphasis on physiology and biochemistry of the human body. The evolution of drug addiction in the post-war forty years may be divided into four stages. The first of them lasted till about mid-1960s. The extent of the phenomenon was then limited, with the average of about 400 persons treated in out-patient clinics, and about 150 -in psychiatric hospitals. Also the police statistics point to small sizes of this phenomenon. In 1967, as few as 9 offences directly related to drug addiction were recorded in Poland. Drug addicts of those days descended from rather specific circles. They were mostly representatives of medical professions, that is persons with a relatively easy access to drugs. Over 90 per cent of all morphine addicts were employees of the health service. Drugs taken most frequently were the classical ones;(morphine, cocaine), tranquilizers (Glimid, Tardyl) and stimulants (amphetamines). In thest period, one could hardly speak of drug addiction as a subcultural phenomenon. It was mainly a medical problem. The majority of the drug taking persons were those already dependent. The addicts of those days formed no close groups sharing a given ideology, specific symbols or language. The taking of narcotic drugs was not a social but an individual behaviour in most cases. The second stage are the late 1960s and the early 1970s. In that period, a rapid growth in the extent of drug addiction can be noticed. In the years 1969-1973, the number of patients treated because of drug addiction in out-patient psychiatric clinics was quintupled, and in psychiatric hospitals, tripled. In 1972, there were about 3,150 patients treated in psychiatric clinics, and about 600 in psychiatric hospitals. Also the number of offences directly related to drug addiction grew rapidly. While in 1967 there was not a single instance of unauthorized giving of narcotic drug (art. 161 of the Penal Code) or of forging prescriptions (art. 265 § 1 of the Penal Code), 105 and 417 such acts respectively were recorded five years later. In 1971, over 3,000 persons "taking narcotic drugs" were registered in the police files. As found in a sociological study carried out in 1972 among students of all grammar, vocational and elementary vocational schools in Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia, 8.3 per cent of the respondents had contacts with narcotic drugs. In the case of about 45 per cent of this group, these contacts were occasional. According to the authors of the study, this percentage is the "minimum frequency of occurence" of drug taking "in the population of school youth in Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot.'' In this early 1970s, the number of persons in danger of becoming addicts (i.e. those who took drugs regularly) and those already dependent was estimated at about 30 thousand. In the discussed period, also the character of addiction underwent changes: it became a subcultural phenomenon. The base on which it developed were the youth contestation movements which emerged in Poland as well. Addiction was given a cultural dimension by the ideology of the hippie movement. Taking drugs ceased to be an individual behaviour and became a social one which expressed certain attitudes and symbolized the affiliation to a given subculture. The young who took drugs formed smaller or bigger groups with strong internal bonds and a great sense of solidarity. They used specific symbols (way of dressing, recognition signals, rich repertoire of gestures, aliases, etc.) and quite a rich language (characteristic names of drugs and activities related to their taking). The very taking of drugs was acompanied by more or less developed rituals (narcotic coctails, seances, etc.). In that period - and later on as well -the phenomenon of drug addiction was concentrated among the youth and in highly urbanized and industrialized regions. In 1972, nearly 75 per cent of persons hospitalized for the first time were those aged under 25, and over 60 per cent-under 29. In 1970, over 90 per cent of addicts treated in hospitals lived in towns. The limited drug marked. caused the youth to resort to substitutes on the unpracedented scale. In those years, general use of such substances as trichloroethylene, Ixi (washing powder), Butaprene (glus), ether, benzene, solvents and others started. Yet the major typ of addiction still remaind that to opium and its derivates, particularly in men, and to sleeping-draught and tranquilizers in women. The third stage in the evolution of drug addiction are the years 1973-1976. In that period, a nearly 27 per cent decrease in the total of patients of psychiatric clinics, and a 40 per cent one in the case of those treated for the first time could be noticed. The morbidity index went down from 3.5 to 2.0. A similar trend, though less dynamic one, concerned also hospital service. In an attempt at explaining this phenomenon, three factors should be mentioned. Firstly, the early 1970s are the period when youth movements started to die out. Also a relative social peace reigned in those years, which caused drug addiction lose its socio-cultural base. Secondly, the medical authorities introduced a number of limitations in the accessibility of drugs in that period. Thirdly, repressive action of the police also influenced this tendency to a high degree. The prosecution agencies not only increased their efficiency greatly, but also acquired a much better knowledge of the addicts circles. These actions however proved insufficient to fully control addiction. The fourth stage in the evolution of addiction started in the late 1970s. In the years 1977-1984, the number of patients treated in out-patient clinics increased twice over, and that of hospitalized persons - five times over. The indicates of dissemination and morbidity grew rapidly. Beginning from mid-1970s, the number of persons registered in the police files grew nearly two and a half times over. Also the number of deaths due to over dosage went up from year to year. In 1978, 18 such cases were recorded, with the number amounting to as many as 117 in 1986. The number of offences directly related to drug addiction went up from 1,093 in 1978 to 3,014 in 1983. The number of persons taking narcotic drugs was estimated at about 500-800 thousand in 1983; that of persons in danger of becoming addicts - at 99-95 thousand, and of actual addicts - about 40 thousand. Such is the minimum spread of the discussed phenomenon. The unprecedented dissemination of drug addiction may be attributed to the emergence of two factors of which one is technological, and the other one psycho-social. In mid-1970s, the technology of production of a strong drug from poppy was worked out in Poland, which resulted in a great amount of strong narcotics appearing on the market. on the other hand, crisis started to accumulate in Poland in mid-1970s, which resulted in a growing frustration among the youth. The concurrence of these two factors brought about the explosion of drug addiction.

43-95

Authors: Jacek R. Kubiak

There is in Hungary a many years tradition. of gathering and publishing criminal statistics and its theoretical analysis. This tradition dates back to the early 19th century. In the modern days, it was discontinued in the years 1944-1956 only. However, in 1957, the publication of the basic data of criminal statistics in Statistical Yearbooks published by the central statistical Office was started anew. As shown by an analysis of the trends of the number of convictions of adults in the years 1944-1984 based on official sources, there is a high substantial changes in these trends with changes in the provisions of the penal law and to some extent in the socio-political climate. The following can thus be noticed: A very big number of convictions in the late fourties and early fifties (with the culminating point in 1952), accompanied by rapid drops in the years when amnesty laws were passed or new provisions of the penal law were introduced. A great drop in the number of convictions in 1956 and, 1957 which was related directly first of all to the course of events before and after October 23, 1956, and to the fact that a part of the jurisdiction of common courts of law was taken over by special courts of law was taken over by special courts the activity of which is not reflected in the analysed statistical data. A relative stabilization of the number of convictions in the years of gradual socio-political consolidation ( 1958-1962). A gradual increase in the number of convictions after the entering into force of the Penal Code of 1961 and its amendment of 1971. Accompanied by intermittent drops in the amnesty years and in the years when provisions that modified the Penal Code entered into force. An increase in the number of convictions after the entering into force of the Penal Code of 1978. The rate of convictions per 100,000 of the population in 1984 was 2'5 times higher than in 1952, but not much lower than the 1961 rate. The rise in crime in the recent years is also evident in the available data from the police and public prosecutor's statistics. The number of reported offences went up by one-third in the period 1965-1985 and has a constant upward trend. Among the offences reported most numerous are offences against property (about 60 per cent of all reported offences), traffic offences (about 12-13 per cent), offences against public order (hooliganism and parasitism in particular), and offences against person (about 7-8 per cent). As compared with 1965, the number of burglaries was 3.5 times as big in the eighties, and the number of robberies - 7 . times. The number of traffic offences increased by over one-third as well. Also offences against person reveal a small upward trend, with the number of homicides being stable. However, the number of homicides in Hungary has for many years been considerably larger than the mean European figure (mean homicide rate per 100,000 of the population amounting to 3.8 in the years 1979--1983). The rise in crime concerned financial offences also (offences against the foreign currency exchange regulations, against customs regulations, tax offences) which are included in ,the group of offences against the national economy. The penal policy of the Hungarian courts has rather frequently been subject to spectacular transformations. In the early seventies, stabilization was achieved in this policy which manifested itself by a limited application of unconditional deprivation of liberty and by a broad use of fine and other measures not involving deprivation of liberty. However, the rise in crime in the eighties influenced a more frequent application of unconditional deprivation of liberty, which resulted in the growth of prison population. In 1979, the number of persons deprived of liberty amounted to 16,764 (157 per 100,000 of the population), while in 1984 the respective number was 21,884 (205 per 100.000 of the population). In Hungary, conditional suspension of the execution of the penalty of deprivation- of liberty is not as popular as in other European socialist countries. For every fifth convicted person, the execution of penalty is suspended. In 1973, the courts for the- first time passed a greater number of fines (48.8 per cent) than prison sentences (43.9 per cent). In the-following years, the share of fines in the structure of penalties even exceeded 50 per cent. However, after entering into force of the new Penal code, an unexpected drop in the number of fines took place things to the which was due among other fact that some of the petty offences were removed from the Penal Code , and that a new penal measure without deprivation of liberty, i.e. probation, was introduced. In 1983, the share of fines dropped to 40 per cent of all sentences. The Hungarian courts were most reluctant to apply the penalty of corrective and educational work as soon as the penalty was introduced in 1950. For a dozen-odd years the share of this penalty in all penalties imposed never exceeded 10 per cent. After the 1961 Penal Code was introduced the penalty of corrective and educational work showed an upward trend (up to 15,8 per cent in 1964), but later on started to fall up, to 4 per cent in 1983. In the years 1962 -1983. common courts sentenced 105 persons to death penalty, for qualified homicide in the vast majority of cases. Since 1968, this penalty has been applied exlusively towards the perpetrators of homicide. In 1984, the extent of reported crime in Hungary was similar to that found in Poland (1, 470 per 100,000 o0f the population); however, in Hungary the response to the rise in crime has been in general much more balanced and quiet.

115-150

Authors: Zofia Ostrihanska, Irena Rzeplińska

The article presents the findings of a study on the problems of alcoholism related to the Act of 26 October 1982 on dealing with persons evading work. The Act defines the phenomenon of the so-called social parasitism as evading socially useful work and having sources of maintenance contradictory to the law or principles of social coexistence. Men aged 18-45 who have not been employed for at least 3 months, who do not attend any school and are not registered in an employment agency as looking for a job, are obliged to report at the local State administrative agency and to explain the reasons of their unemployment or failure to learn. A nonfulfillment of this duty is a transgression for which a penalty of limitation of liberty of up to 3 months or a fine of up to 50,000 zlotys is provided. There are certain categories of persons who are not liable to this duty: among others, these are the retired or disabled persons, those who receive allowances from the social security fund etc. The reported men are entered in a record of persons evading work. In the case of their further persistent evasion of work, they are liable to further proceedings and various sanctions. They may also be recognized as unemployed for socially grounded reasons. Towards such persons, the Act provides no further special duties, and the administrative agency is obligated to come to their assistance if necessary. In the present paper, the important problem of whether the legal regulation of the problems connected with the so-called social parasitism is justified, has not been discussed. We have focused on the relation between unemployment and excessive drinking and on the problems and disturbances in employment among excessively drinking men. The study was aimed at answering the following questions: What is the number of persons with alcohol problems, repeatedly detained in the sobering-up station, among the men registered in District Offices in Warsaw as "evading work"? What is the number of unemployed persons aged 18-45 among those repeatedly detained in the sobering-up station? What is the relation between employment and work on the one hand, and excessive drinking and the entire life situation on the other hand among the above-mentioned men? The following three groups of men have been included in the study: A. In order to obtain the answer to the first question. records of 2,195 men were examined who had been registered in the seven District Offices in Warsaw within the period from January 1. 1983 till April 30. 1984 as evading work, and their detentions in the sobering-up station were checked. B. The second group of the examined persons consisted of all men aged 18-45 who had been detained in the sobering-up station for at least, the second time on randomly selected days in October and November of 1984 and in January of 1985 (576 persons). Information concerning their employment was obtained from the .records of the sobering-up station based either on their own statements or on entries in their identity cards. C. The third group consisted of 56 patients of the sobering-up station aged 18-45 who had repeatedly been detained; they were examined individually in the period from October 1984 till January 1985. The examination consisted in a free interview based on a specially constructed questionnaire. The aim of the interview was to obtain information concerning the course of employment and the drinking habits of the examined persons. their possible symptoms of dependence and withdrawal treatments they underwent, family situation and state of health. From among 2,195 men registered as evading work. one-third had been detained in the sobering-up station at least once. As many as two-thirds of them had been detained repeatedly. A part of the registered men (6.9 per cent) were included at a later date in the list of persons who persistently evade work. Persons detained in the sobering-up station constitute 37 per, cent of those included in the record. Employment of patients of the sobering-up station was examined in the second of the above-mentioned groups: the 576 men aged 18-45 repeatedly detained in the Warsaw sobering-up station. Among those patients men aged at least 30 predominated (76.9 per cent). Those detained at least four times were the most numerous (45.5 per cent); there were 20.6 and 33.9 per cent of those detained three and two times respectively. According to expectations, older patients had been detained in the station more frequently than the younger ones. At the moment of detention in the station, the majority of the repeatedly detained persons (60.6 per cent) were employed at State enterprises; 10 per cent worked for private employers, and 1.4 per cent in their own workshops or farms. 5 per cent were pensioners, 8:3 per cent worked casually, and 14.6 per cent were not employed at all. Therefore, the category of persons who did not work or who worked only casually constituted 22.9 per cent of the examined group, which seems rather a high percentage. It grows still if the category of pensioners is added. amounting then to 27.9 per cent of men aged 18-45 repeatedly detained in the station and to as many as 34.7 per cent of those detained over three times. 56 persons were examined individually. They were somewhat older than the above-mentioned group of 576 patients of the sobering-up station and had been detained there for a smaller number of times. The essential problem in our study was their drinking of alcohol. 36 per cent of the examined persons stated they had started drinking at the age of 16 at most, while in the case of 33.3 per cent the respective self-reported age was 17-18. As many as two-thirds admitted usually dinking half a litre or more vodka on one occasion. 34.8 per cent admitted drinking daily. It was most difficult to find out whether the examined persons were already alcohol dependent. There were question included in the questionnaire and asked during the interview, that served this purpose. Some of the examined persons were afraid even to admit they drank excessively which was due to the type of work they performed in which abuse of alcohol is not tolerated (first of all in the driver’s profession). Symptoms indicative of dependence were found in 24 of the examined persons (42.9 per cent). A part of them had already started withdrawal treatment in the past, yet they frequently gave it up after as few as several visits. The detention in the station and talks conducted with the patient on release were noticed to be an opportunity for initiating a change in his attitude towards treatment. It seems that the sobering-up station may and should be an important link in the alcohol dependence treatment system. Basing on the appraisal of the entire course of employment, the examined group could be divided into two categories: A. those in the case of whom undisturbed performance of work and its regularity was found according to the information obtained (22 persons); B. those who had been unemployed for long periods of time, worked irregularly, at intervals, and failed to perform work properly (31 persons). In the category A, two subgroups were distinguished: a. men who usually did not drink excessively or who abused alcohol but to a slight degree, who worked regularly and were relatively well socially adjusted. Their repeated detentions in the sobering-up station seemed to result from various chance situations and from their poor tolerance of alcohol; b. men who regularly abused alcohol or who could have been dependent on it, in whom however this situation did not influence their performance of work. In the category B, it was not possible to distinguish any subgroups. In individual cases, joint occurrence of some of the following overlapping problems was found: a. poor performance of work related to excessive drinking, yet without the symptoms of professional degradation; b. professional degradation connected with alcohol dependence; c. poor performance of work and excessive drinking connected with and resulting from an early social maladjustment; d. unemployment accompanied by a declared reluctance to work in the future which was connected rather with the examined person’s personality traits than with his excessive drinking; e. unemployment due to disability resulting from an accident or illness which made it impossible to perform the former job. Such a situation could have been brought about by excessive drinking, and the present unemployment is a factor that increases these persons alcohol dependence. Among 2,195 men registered in the Warsaw District offices as evading work, there were 708 patients of the sobering-up station of whom two-thirds had been detained repeatedly. As shown by an analysis of their statements made at the District offices, the reasons of their unemployment varied greatly. An observation seems justified that the majority of them do work, though irregularly. Among then, 115 were recognized to be unemployed for justified reasons; a very small part of them (20 per cent) asked for assistance of the administrative agency in finding a job through the Employment Department. The group of 708 patients of the sobering-up station consists of men who may at least be assumed to drink excessively However, the officials who keep the records were poorly informed as to this problem. Further, despite registration and activities of the department for unemployed persons to compel these persons to work' as many as two-thirds of men in this group failed to take a job. Any action undertaken towards this specific group of men (who were repeatedly detained in the sobering-up stations and were excessive drinkers), proved entirely ineffective, both at the stage of compelling them to work regularly and at that of having them perform public works. From among 708 men – 26.1 per cent were directed to public works; about three-fourths of them never even reported at work. The intervention undertaken by means of the Act of dealing with persons evading work seems futile. Some of these persons may perhaps need referring to an alcohol dependence treatment unit, some others - counselling as to the choice and finding of an adequate job; still another part will probably constitute a regular group that is characteristic of any society: u group of persons who constitute a social fringe and live in a way that departs from the norms of conduct accepted in the society.

201-225

Authors: Jan Nelken

The birth of the independent Poland in 1918 activated a social movement against alcoholism and drug addiction. In 1919, the Polish Society for Fighting Alcoholism ,,Trzeźwość'' ("Sobriety'') was established which operated nationwide and which in the period between the two wars became the main factor of fighting alcoholism. In the light of the Statute of "Trzeźwość" and resolutions of the Polish anti-alcoholic congresses, as well as the postulates of psychiatrists, the ideas of how to fight alcoholism included three spheres: a. anti-alcoholic legislation and its practical enforcement; b. anti-alcoholic propaganda and education; c. treatment of alcoholics. In 1919, a draft was submitted to the Diet that proposed a total prohibition of production and sale of alcoholic beverages. It was referred to a Diet commission which subsequently changed its contents. Then. The Diet passed an Act of 23 April 1920 on restrictions in sale of alcoholic beverages. The Act, based on a concept of partial prohibition. Introduced considerable restrictions in sale of beverages containing over 2.5 per cent of pure alcohol, and a total prohibition of sale of beverages with over 45 per cent alcohol. Moreover, the sale of alcohol was prohibited to workers on paydays and holidays, as well as at markets, fairs, church fairs, pilgrimages, on trains and at railway stations. According to the Act, each rural or urban commune could introduce on its territory a total prohibition of sale of alcoholic beverages by voting. The Act limited the number of places where alcohol could be sold or served to one per 2,500 of the population all over the country. A licence issued by administrative authorities was required to sell or serve alcohol. The statutory instrument to this Act created commissions for fighting alcoholism of the 1st and 2nd instances which were to supervise the compliance to the Act of 1920 and to impose penalties provided for the infringement of its provisions. The commissions consisted of representatives of the State administration and social organizations engaged in fighting alcoholism. Moreover, the Act of 2l January 1922 introduced a penalty of fine or arrest for being drunk in public. A person who brought another person to the state of intoxication was also liable to these penalties. The complete execution of the anti-alcoholic Act met with obstacles: for instance, alcohol was secretly served on the days of prohibition (e.g. during fairs). The Act of 31 July 1924 established the Polish Spirit Monopoly (P.M.S.). The production of spirit and pure vodka thus became a State monopoly' Production and sale of the P.M.S. beverages increased gradually as it constituted an important source of the State revenue. For this reason. a new anti-alcoholic Act of 21 March 1931 was passed which greatly reduced the restrictions in the sale of alcohol as compared with former regulations. A further reduction in these restrictions resulted from Acts of 1932 and 1934. The P.M.S. Board of Directors argued that a growth in production was necessary to suppress illegal distilling of alcohol the products of which were imperfectly rectified and threatened the health of the population. Instead according to the conception of "Trzeźwość’’ and other social organizations engaged in fighting alcoholism. illegal distilling of alcohol should be detected and suppresed by the police while it was in the interest of the health and morals of the population to curtail greatly the sale of alcohol and for this reason it was necessary to reintroduce the anti-alcoholic Act of 1920 However, in consideration of the State's fiscal interests. the Act was not reintroduced and the other Acts that extended the production and sale of the P.M.S. products were only replaced after World War II. According to the ideas of ,,Trzeźwość'' and other organizations fighting alcoholism, anti-alcoholic propaganda and education should be made by professionals and have a wide range, since it is impossible to fight alcoholism without informing the population of the harmful effects of alcohol. Guidelines for this activity were worked out at the Polish anti-alcoholic congresses of which there were seven in the period between the wars. Besides, in 1937 the 21st International Anti-Alcoholic Congress took place in Warsaw during which the Polish draft of an international anti-alcoholic convention was Supported. The draft provided a considerable limitation of alcohol sale, a regulation of penal liability for offences and transgressions committed in the state of intoxication, and lectures on alcohology in schools. The states signatories to the convention would be called upon to pass acts consistent with the content of the convention. The work on this draft was stopped by the outbreak of the war. The resolutions of the Polish anti-alcoholic congresses demanded lectures on alcohology in all types of schools, at teachers courses and at specialist courses for employees of various departments, the Ministry in of Communication particular. The range of alcohology taught at schools should be conformed to the type of school and the general knowledge or students. The postulate of teaching alcohology in schools was partly realized and courses were organized for railway employees by the Abstainer Railwaymen League. At the State School of Hygiene in Warsaw a several days course in alcohology was organized every year in which 200--300 persons participated, mainly teachers, physicians and clergymen of various denominations. Besides, ,,Trzeźwość'' organized travelling exhibitions that made tours of towns to show the harmful effects of alcoholism. The Abstainer Railwaymen League organized, an exhibition in a railway carriage which was visited by many thousands of persons at railway stations in different parts of the country. A lecturer on alcohology was employed to have talks during the exhibition. In early February every year a nationwide Sobriety Propagation Week was organized. Various publications were also brought out which demonstrated the harmful effects of alcohol and the ways of fighting alcoholism, both scientific and those for general use. Treatment of alcoholics was postulated; it was carried out in closed hospital wards or in out-patient clinics. The former was more effective; however it was less frequently applied as compared with the out-patient treatment since there were no provisions which would legalize compulsory treatment of alcoholics and drug addicts and it was easier to obtain the patient's consent to treatment in a clinic than in a hospital. Compulsory treatment was only possible if the court applied medical security measures in cases of offences connected with abuse of alcohol or drugs. (Art. 82 of the Penal code of 1932). The mental hygiene, movement, initiated in Poland in the early thirties, resulted in a growth in the number of clinics engaged in prevention and treatment, that is in a development of treatment of alcoholics in specialized anti-alcoholic clinics. The necessity of taking the children of alcoholics under educational and medical indicated. An important part is this field fell to social nurses attached to the clinics whose task was among other things to bring the alcoholics children to the clinic and see to their medical treatment if necessary. The organization of special schools for mentally deficient and morally neglected children, whose parents were frequently alcoholics, was also initiated. Psychiatrists demanded an elaboration and introduction of an act on compulsory treatment of alcoholics and drug addicts, organization of special wards for notorious alcoholics in mental hospitals, prolongation of treatment from 6 to 12 months (which was considered particularly necessary in the case of chronic alcoholism), a joint alcoholism and psychiatric treatment if required, in the case of alcohol psychosis in particular, and check-up of the cured alcoholics and drug addicts. In Poland drug addiction has never reached the proportions of alcoholism. Its most frequent forms were morphinism and cocainism. Its fighting was facilitated by the passing of an Act of June 23, 1923 which prohibited production, processing, export. import. storage of and any trade in all drugs. For infringement of the Act, penalties of fine and up to 5 years deprivation of liberty were provided. However, there was no act to legalize compulsory treatment of drug addicts. They could only be treated in closed hospital wards since in the case of drug addiction, out-patient treatment was considered to be ineffective. In 1931, the Polish Committee for Drugs and Prevention of Drug Addiction was set up as, an advisory body attached to the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, which consisted mainly of physicians and chemists. In order to fight drug addiction effectively, increased detection of export and sale of drugs was postulated as well as supervision of prescriptions and of obtaining drugs on prescription at chemist's. Chemists were compelled to keep a special book of in- and out-goings of drugs which could only be sold on prescription for therapeutical purposes. Attenton was drawn to the necessity of an instruction, to be passed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, according to which the production of doctors seals and forms would only be possible on presentation of the identity card, since drug addicts used to order seals and forms bearing names of famous practitioners. Medical check-up of released prisoners who had been cured of drug addiction when serving their sentences was also postulated. In consequence of the spread of ether drinking in the Upper Silesia in 1936, a wide-range operation was carried out which consisted in a vigorous fight against smuggling and sale of ether (which was mainly smuggled from Germany) and in informing the population as to the harmful effects of ether drinking.

109-139

Authors: Bogusław Janiszewski

The aims of the present study have been: 1) to ascertain the actual conditions of the courts' decisions applying penalties and other measures towards multiple recidivists; 2) to determine the present penal policy towards this category of convicted persons; 3) to compare this policy with the assumptions included in the Penal Code in force. Punishment imposed upon multiple recidivists is regulated by the provisions of Art. 60, para. 2 and 3 Art. 61 of the Penal Code. Their formulation is as follows: on a perpetrator sentenced twice in the conditions specified in para. 1 (special basic recidivism), who has served altogether at leat one year of deprivation of liberty and in the period of 5 years after the serving of the last penalty commits again an intentional offence with the purpose of obtaining a material benefit or of a hooligan character, similar to at least one of the previously committed offencęs, the court shall impose a penalty within the limits of from three times the lowest sanction, but not less than 2 years, up to the highest statutory sanction increased by one half, and if the highest statutory sanction is not higher than 3 years: up to 5 years deprivation of liberty. The increase of the lowest statutory sanction provided in para. 1 or 2 shall not apply, when the offence is a serious offence; in this case the court shall consider the commission of the offence in the conditions specified in para 1 or 2 as a circumstance increasing the penalty. In particularly justified cases when even the lowest penalty imposed on the basis of Art. 60. paras 1 or 2 would be incommeasurably Severe by reason of the motives for the action of the perpetrator, his traits and personal conditions as well as his way of life before the commission and his behaviour after the perpetration of the offence, the court when imposing the penalty may refrain from applying the rules specified in Art. 60. paras 1 or 2; in these cases the court shall take into consideration the commission of the offence in the conditions specified in Art. 60, para 1or 2 as circumstances influencing increasing the penalty. With regard to a perpetrator sentenced in the conditions specified in Art. 60, para. 2 he court shall adjudge protective supervision; if adjudging this supervision is not sufficient to prevent recidivism, the court shall adjudge .the commitment of the sentenced person to a social readaptation centre. (Art. 62, para. 2). The present work has been based on the author's own research and to a minimum extent only on the analysis of the national statistical data. The point of departure for the study of the actual conditions of the courts decisions were the conditions specified in the Penal Code now in force. The conditions specified in Art. 61 of the Penal Code and related to the offender only have been assumed to form the ratio legis of special recidivism in the Polish penal legislation. If, however, when aplying this provision, the courts prefer the conditions related to the most recent act of the offender, this mignt be an indication of their different attitude towards the aim of punishment in the case of the discussed category of offenders. The existence of such divergences between the conditions of application of Art 61 of the Penal Code as included in the law on the one hand, and those applied by the courts on the other hand has been one of the hypotheses verified in the present study. The study has been based on the examination of court records. All the accessible records of criminal cases (230) have been included in it, in which Sentences were passed with regard to multiple recidivists (under Art 60. para. 2 and Art. 61 in connection with Art. 60, para. 2 of the Penal Code) in the District Court of the city of Poznań in the years 1975-1981. The question arised whether this could be treated as an equivalent to a random sample of the national population of convicted multiple recidivists. As shown by a comparison of distributions in question are highly convergent. A questionnaire to investigate the ourt records consisted of 41 questions concerning the convicted recidivist, his previous offences and criminal record, his last offence and the content of the last sentence. The impact of a number of variables on the application of Art. 61 of the Penal Code, on the length of the prison sentence and on the decision of commitment to a social readaptation centre has been analysed in succession. Conclusions from the study are as follows: 1. In the application of Art.61 of the Penal Code ,the predominating part is played by the conditions connected with the degree of socil danger of the act and with its legal label. The conditions connected with the person of the perpetrator seem to have a much smaller effect. The reason of this state of affairs may be seeked in the fact that the court is obligated by Art. 60, para.2 of the Penal Code to impose long-term penalties of deprivation or liberty regardless of the degree of social danger (seriousness) of the offence which may be trivial in particular cases. Therefore, it is not to be wondered at that in these cases the courts apply Art. 61 of the Penal Code so as to impose a lower or more lenient penalty in order to make it commeasurable with the offence. The following conditions have been found to exert the greatest influence on the length of sentences to deprivation of liberty under Art. 60, para. 2: firstly, the legal appraisal of the offence and the related content of the instructions for meting out punishment specified in Art. 60, para. 2 of the Penal Code, and secondly, the degree of social danger of the offence. The character of the offence and the appraisal of its social danger influence the sentence too, including the type of penalty, when Art. 61 of the Penal Code is applied by the court. This is probably a further result of following the same conditions already when deciding on the application of Art. 61 of the Penal Code. When adjudging the commitment of convicted persons to a social readaptation centre, the courst were guided by the conditions connected with intense symptoms of demoralization of these persons and with a previous application of various penal measures towards them; thus the conditions were formally the same as those to be found in the Penal Code. At the same time, conditions connected with the recently committed offence were left out of account here. One should be particularly careful when interpreting the findings in this case aS the decisions in question may be conditioned by the courts' various attitudes towards the practical functioning of the centers, and by different purposes of their adjudgement in definite cases. The length of the perod for which commitment to a social readaptation centre was adjudged has appeared to increase with the length of the sentence to deprivation of libety. Admittedly, outright conclusions as to the need for amendments of the provisions of the Penal Code in its part concerning recidivists do not follow immediately from the findings of the present study. These findings have. however, demonstrated the degree to which the instructions for meting out, punishment specified in Art. 60, para. 2 of the Penal Code sever the relation between the offence and punishment, as well as the fact that the corrective function of punishment imposed upon multiple recidivists - officially assumed by the legislator-has a fictious character in practice. In consequence, Art. 61 of the Penal Code is used in discord with its purpose; it is applied to adjust the adjudicated punishment to the seriousness of the offence committed.

173-221

Authors: Teodor Szymanowski

I. The paper has been based on literature, on empirical data included in studies and reports in particular. The basic factors that determine the development and the present state of the prison system in the Polish. People's Republic have been indicated. The aim has been to consider the desirable directions of further transformations of the prison system which would guarantee its development according to the principles of humanism and the rule of law. This is important also because amendments are presently discussed' i.a. of the Code of Execution of Penalties. II. Among the important factors that have determined the hitherto development of the prison system in the Polish People's Republic, the following have been mentioned. 1.Legal provisions in force, issued by authorities of different levels, and international documents which influence them to some degree. Attention has been drawn to the incoherence of legal provisions scattered in legal acts of various importance and the society's unacquaintance with them due to their not being published. Immediate tasks the authorities impose upon the machine of execution of penalty. Such activites are aimed at correcting the prison system and frequently have harmful effects (e.g. closing of secondary schools in the early seventies). Traditions of the prison system and the hitherto existing practice, particularly the one developed after World War II when a new political system was introduced in Poland. The traditions are both good and bad. Among the favourable ones, the estimation of the importance of education in the treatment of offenders can for instance be mentioned, among the bad ones-e.g. the tendency to use disciplinary methods of treatment or a certain isolation -of the prison system from the society. 4.Experiences of other countries, scientific views and conclusions from scientific research. The above-mentioned factors are treated in a selective way, i.e. some experiences are chosen for practical application according to the penal policy fulfilled at the moment. III. Among the factors that characterize the present state of the prison system, the following should be mentioned: During the last thirty years, the average yearly number of prisoners was about 90 thousand. The number of the imprisoned persons in Poland I very large as compared with the respective numbers in other countries (if those where such data are published are taken into account). At the same time, it should also be mentioned that the numbers of prisoners in the postwar period were by 50% larger on the average as compared with those before 1939, and that there is overpopulation in prisons as a rule, i.e. the number of inmates is larger than tire prison capacity. This situation is the result of the penal policy which is too repressive according to scientists and which leads to sentencing a considerable part of offenders to long prison terms. Among the basic categories of prisoners in the Polish People's Republic, the following should be mentioned: first offenders (over 40% of the total number of prisoners on the average); recidivists (somewhat of the total number of prisoners on the average); recidivist (somewhat less than 40% on the average); young adults aged under 20 (the group which has recently diminished: less than 10% of the total number of prisoners); women (less than 3%). It should also be mentioned that about 27% of all persons deprived of liberty in the recent years have been those remanded in custody. As regards other categories of prisoners, we lack precise, methodical information due to the lick of properly developed penitentiary diagnostics (this concerns e.g. prisoners-alcoholics, those with mental disorders etc.). However, there are estimations of the numbers of prisoners of these categories to be found in research studies. Moreover, also the material and organizational conditions in which the prison system functions are by no means good. Only a few prisons were built after the war. Many are old buildings, and some date from as long ago as the 18th century. They need repairs and modernization. In the country's present economic situation, development of the prison building cannot possibly be postulated. Irrespective of the lack of space in prisons, there are also other difficulties in providing the proper living conditions for the inmates. As far as the adequate basis for organization of the prisoners, leisure time is concerned, the state of prison libraries, and the universal radiophonic installations are favourable in comparison with the existing difficulties (lack of rooms and proper equipment). Also the prison. staff is an important element of the penitentiary system. The level of education of the staff keeps increasing. However the proportion of prisoners per one staff member is much less favourable than in many West-European countries. The basic means of penitentiary treatment in the Polish People’s Republic are: employment, education and cultural activities. For many years now, there has been nearly full employment of prisoners in Poland universal: the index of employment amounted to over 90% in the seventies and over 80% in the eighties. Among those not working, only a slight percentage were unemployed due to a lack of work. The reasons for being out of work were most frequently the so-called justified reasons such as e.g. poor health, awaiting transfer, etc. Among the employed prisoners, a considerable part were working in the conditions of freedom, outside prisons (in some years, there were over 45% of those who worked in these conditions). At the same time, the vast majority of them were employed against payment (over 8o%), though their wages were lower as a rule than those earned by outside workers in analogous professions. The weak points of the prisoners' The weak employment were: excessive trend towards its economization (i.e. gaining profits even at the cost of the resocializing treatment), and its insufficient use for the prisoners' better professional training and social readaptation. A considerable number of prisoners learn in elementary schools and in elementary vocational schools. Besides, a small number of prisoners learn 'in -secondary vocational schools and at various courses which, however, do not secure a certificate of a qualified worker as a rule. The results of the prisoners' education are most favourable if measured both by the marks at school and by the adjustment to living in the freedom conditions after release. All the studies carried out in Poland which took this problem into account show that the higher the education the prisoners have achieved, the less frequent their relapse into crime. However, the majority of prisoners who have had no profession fail to learn one during their prison sentence. The organization of the prisoners' leisure time has many faults: aside from reading books which are easily accessible, other forms were underdeveloped during the recent dozen or more years as compared with the needs, or revealed regress as compared with the sixties. IV. In the years 1980--1981, new factors emerged which favourably influenced the development of the prison system in Poland. Among them, the most marked trend towards a prison reform should be mentioned which was initiated by independent social movements, scientific centres and the prisoners them - selves (the surge of group protests and riots which on certain days inc1uded tens of thousands of inmates). In 1981, prison reform was started, among other things through the introduction of amendments into the so-called temporary prison rules (the most repressive provisions removed, such as those concerning the so-called fasting penalty or the absolute strict regime for recidivists), and through the admission by means of a separate legal act of universal accessibility of religious practices, including the admittance of chaplains into prisons. At the same time, the functioning of two associations was legalized the activity of which was to consist in coming to the prisoners' and their families' asistance. The associations started operating in l98l; however, they were suspended after the introduction of the martial law and then dissolved. At the same time, the campaign for social aid to prisoners convicted for acts committed or noncriminal motives was organized within the framework of charitable ministry of the Catholic Church. The problem of the prison reform is still a live issue in the Polish People's Republic; moreover, the reform is indispensable. However, its continuation will depend on the future general trends of the State’s policy. V. In the present article, postulates have also been formulated concerning the future amendments of the Code of Execution of Penalties. Here the most important of them: 1. The prisoners rights and duties should be defined precisely and included in a statute instead of in statutory instruments, thus making their informal changes impossible. It is necessary to introduce a separate status of offenders convicted for acts committed for ideological motives. It is indispensable to define in the legal provisions the minimum and untraversable standards of the prisoners material existence, and the index of the maximum capacity of prisons. It is desirable to abandon the formal classification of prisoners and the so-called regimes of execution of penalty the aim of which is first and foremost repression. Also the expansion of resocializing measures is important, as well as increase of the educational character of such penitentiary measures as e.g. employment. In order to give deprivation of liberty a more prosocial character, it is necessary to legalize and render possible the functioning of independent associations assisting the prisoners and their families.

17-36

Authors: Jørgen Jepsen, tłumaczył Jerzy Jasiński

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47-58

Authors: Jerzy Sarnecki, tłumaczyła Anna Kossowska

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69-78

Authors: Zofia Ostrihanska, Dobrochna Wójcik

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89-100

Authors: Martti Gröfors, tłumaczyła Anna Kossowska

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113-118

Authors: Anna Kossowska

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129-137

Authors: Magdalena Jasińska

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93-122

Authors: Barbara Szamota

The results of empirical studies on general deterrence carried out so far are far from being unequivocal. Taking general deterrence research as a whole, it can be concluded only that in some situationa some individuals are deterred from some crimes by some punishments. Moreover, it is now obvious to most researchers that the problem is not whether punishment has deterrent effects but rather under what conditions and to what extent they occur. Thus, as the deterrent effects of the punishment threats are tentatively confirmed, further studies in this direction seem to be called for. So far the main achievement of the general deterrence studies has been overcoming some simplified approach to formulating problems (in research) and improvement in research methods rather than verification of hypotheses. Therefore, instead of describing the results of these studies, this paper has been limited to methodological problems. It seems to the author that with the present-day knowledge on the deterrent effeets of punishment threats, the above approach will help to ensure continuation of empirical studies and will contribute to the gradual and cumulative enrichment of theoretical interpretations of the abovementioned problem. Owing to the limited scope of this presentation only some selected problems have been dealt with. While carrying out this selection the author had to bear in mind that no such empirical studies had been carried out this selection the author had to bear in mind that no such empirical studies had been carried out in poland so far and the results of studies made elsewhere had not become popular among Polish readers. This article has been confined to the penal law and the deterrent effects of criminal punishment threats rather than the punishment in general and it was mostly based on works published in the English language. Apart from the Introduction, the article consists of the following parts: I. Notion of general deterrence, II. Deterrence vs. other general preventive effects of punishment, III. Types of general deterrence, IV. Theoretical foundations of general deterrence research, V. Conditions for effective general deterrence, and Summary. I. Notion of general deterrence The author points to the differences in the definition of general deterrence, to the ambiguity and vagueness in the formulations found in the literature on this subject. She stresses the importance of a clear definition of the above notion for the purposes of empirical studies, which will, as a result, help to avoid misunderstanding in interpreting the research evidence. Since punishment, or strictly speaking, the threat of punishment, prevents people from committing an offence in a variety of ways, the deterrent being only one of them, the researcher should clearly define what mechanisms he is going to study. For empirical studies a narrow definition of general deterrence, i.e., restriction to one mechanism only, seems to be more appropriate. So far, most studies have been devoted to the mechanism of deterrence. II. Deterrence vs. other general preventive effects of punishment At this point the author discusses also other mechanisms of the preventive effect of punishment threats, especially its moral and educational influence as well as its role in habit formation. Many mechanisms of general preventive effect of punishment have not yet even been identified. In spite of the fact that it is advisable to restrict the subject of investigation to but one mechanism, it is difficult in practice to differentiate between the various mechanisms of general prevention. When interpreting the data it will probably be necessary to determine the impact of these other processes on the results of investigations. The study of the other general preventive effects of criminal sanctions brings about some specific problems such as those of a diffcrent time perspective, as they are of no direct character and require some longer period of time to bring down the crime rate. Although the present paper is confined to the effects of criminal sanctions, the author emphasizes the need for considering a wider perspective of reasons for compliance with the law. III. Types of general deterrence. When considering general deterrence from the terminological point of view one has to include its various types. The author discusses the following types of general deterrence encountered in literature: quantitative vs. qualitative; absolute vs. marginal; particularized vs. generalized or selective; total or complete vs. restrictive; replacing vs. non-replacing partial vs. Modifying or substituting or displacing. The distinctions suggested are often neither exhaustive nor exclusive. Still the general deterrence typology even in this form is of considerable methodological importance. Different types of evidence are relevant when an attempt is made to determine the different types of general deterrence. If the distinctions are not made then it may be concluded that a sanction had no deterrent effect at all simply because no evidence was collected for what is only one type of general deterrence. IV. Theoretical foundations of general deterrencę research. First the author presents the deterrence doctrine. It is because what lies at the foundation of general deterrence research, i.e., a set of loosely connected and vague statements and assumptions, can at most be called a doctrine. Besides, the present shape of this doctrine does not differ much from that of the classical model of general deterrence formulated by C. Beccaria and J. Bentham. The drawbacks and ambiguities of the deterrence doctrine, as pointed out by the author, have come to bear on the results of studies aimed at the verification of the doctrine's propositions. What is necessary is to reformulate the deterrence doctrine into an empirical theory. Then, directions are discussed in which the deterrence doctrine has been and still is developing. First of all, the deterrence doctrine is being developed through a different conceptualization of the relationship between legal sanction and behaviour. It is now generally agreed that general deterrence cannot be conceptualized as a unitry bivariate relationship between punishment threats and crime. Instead, it is maintained that the relationship is moderated by a number of conditions yet to be identified empirically. The number of variables to be considered have also become larger. What is specially worth noting is the fact that other, extralegal factors have been included in deterrence models. Another important trend in the development of the deterrence doctrine is that of emphasizing its psychological character and including the so-called perceptual variables characterizing the way how sanction characteristics are perceived by potential offenders. The emphasis on perceptions of punishment developed from an awareness that deterrence is a communicative proces. In order to deter, actual threats of legal punishment must be communicated to individuals. It will be most essential for the formulation of the general deterrence theory to determine the relationship between objective properties of legal sanctions. V. Conditions for effective general deterrence. The basic research problem consist in identifying the conditions for effective general deterrence. As for determining these conditions, there are so far only few empirical data available. Besides, one can hardly see what the consistent theoretical assumptions could be which will help to have some relevant factors included in the study, especially in the case of extralegal conditions. One should also be aware of the fact that the numer of possibly relevant factors is, practically speaking, unlimited and that many of these factors will influence behavior only when particural values of a large number of the others are present. But, characteristic of most „theoretical” writings is that the authors usually confine themselves to summing up a list of possible relevant factors, not dealing with possible interaction. The author discusses the concept of a „marginal group”. Summary The article ends with a short description of the methods used in the study on general deterrence. The author points out to limitations of the methods and data that have most frequently been used in addressing the deterrence question. It is necessary to collect better data about perceptual processes.

143-166

Authors: Zofia Ostrihanska, Dobrochna Wójcik

1. The study discussed in the present paper is a continuation of the research on extent and determinants of social maladjustment among schoolchildren in Warsaw elementary schools, which was conducted in the years 1976-1979. Over 600 classes (grade III-VIII) were then examined, which makes the total numer of 17,662 children aged 9-16. Teachers indicated children who revealed symptoms of social maladjustment (such as regular truancy, many-hours loitering around the streets without control, running away from home, stealing, frequenting company of demoralized colleagues, drinking alcohol, sexual demoralization, vandalism and frequent aggressive behaviour). 885 boys (which makes 10 per cent of all schoolboys included in the study) and 220 girls (2.7 per cent of all girls) were found to reveal these children, which included information as to the child’s family environment, school situation, school failures, behaviour, health, and symptoms of social maladjustment. From this general popuration of 885 schoolboys who revealed symptoms of social maladjustment, a group of 262 boys was separated whose symptoms were particularly intense and cumulated. This group then underwent a detailed individual examination. As a control group to match this group of 262 boys whose symptoms of social maladjustment were cumulated and intense, 151 boys were drawn by lot from among those of all schoolboys who had not been mentioned by the teachers as children who reveal symptoms of social maladjustment, and who were classmates of the socially maladjusted boys. The control group underwent the same individual examination. 2. At the stage of the study presented in the present paper the aim was to answer the following questions: - how many of the schoolchildren indicated by the teachers because of various symptoms of social maladjustment had cases in court before they were included in the study. – how many of them had cases in court during the five years of follow-up study. – what was the total number of children who had ever had cases in court and what was the intensity of their criminal careers. –is there any difference between the socially maladjusted schoolchildren who had cases in court and those with a clean record, as regards any features of their family environment or the kind of symptoms of social maladjustment, which caused them to be included in the study. Is there any difference between them as regards their school failure or the results of psychological examination. In order to answer these questions, in mid 1982 it was checked if the children indicated as socially maladjusted had cases in court as juveniles or as young adults (aged 17 and over). The examined persons were then aged 15-23. The cases of persons concerning whom it was impossible to obtain data, as to their criminal record were excluded from the analysis therefore, finally the examined population consisted of 859 boys and 220 girls. 3. At the moment when the examined schoolchildren were indicated by the teachers as revealing symptoms of social maladjustment, 6.9 per cent of the socially maladjusted boys and 3.7 pet cent of the girls had criminal cases in family courts. A considerable majority of these children (5.1 per cent of the boys and all girls, 3.7 per cent) had only one case in court. The cases occurred generally at the age 14-16. The number of children who had had cases of care and protection during anamnesis is comparatively large: 5.5 per cent of boys and as many as 16.3 per cent of girls. The examination of the schoolchildren's further criminal careers during the following 5 years produced the following results: - 20.9 per cent of boy were convicted by courts within that period (10.2 per cent had cases in family courts, 5.7 per cent- in ordinary courts, 5 per cent- both in family and in ordinary courts). - 4 per cent of girls were convicted (3.6 per cent by family courts, 0.4 per cent by ordinary courts). It should be added that on account of the age, only 629 boys and 178 girls could have had cases in ordinary courts. Among them, 14.8 per cent of boys and one girl were convicted. The percentage is high, as part of those who „could have had cases" were only 17 years old, the probability of their conviction being thus minimal. 25.7 per cent of boys convicted by ordinary court committed aggressive acts, while 70.7 per cent were convicted only for offences against property. When the entire examined period (anamnesis and follow-up period) is discussed together, it appears that every fourth boy (23.4 per cent) and every thirteenth girl among all socially maladjusted children were delinquent. This result certifies to the generally known difference between the extents of delinquency of boys and girls. However, the represented proportion changes diametrically if one takes into account not only criminal cases, but also those of care and protection. 12.2 per cent of boys and as many as 25.4 per cent of girls had cases of care and protection in family courts. There were 26.4 per cent of socially maladjusted boys and 28.6 per cent of girls who had cases in family courts (criminal and care and protection together). The high percentage of girls who had cases of care and protection may be connected to their worse family situation which demanded intervention, as well as with the fact, that girls revealed symptoms of sexual demoralization more frequently than boys (as many as 1/5 of socially maladjusted girls in grade VIII); these symptoms awoke concern of the adult and may induce them to seek intervention of a court. Such symptoms, not being offences, may only be a reason for instituting tutelar proceedings. Another problem was also examined, that is of the features of the examined persons and of their family environment (as revealed by the questionnaires filled in by the teachers) which would differentiate the delinquent boys from those who had never been convicted. The delinquent boys were found to live in worse family backgrounds, in which criminality of parents or siblings or alcoholism of the father occurred more frequently. Instead, the delinquent boys were not found to live more frequently in broken homes or separately from their parents. The delinquent boys were more socially maladjusted than those never convicted: they revealed a greater numer of symptoms of social maladjustment, their teachers informed more frequently of threir thefts, drinking, contacts with demoralized colleagues, and truancy. Instead, the delinquent boys were not described by the teachers as fighting with their schoolmates „often” and „very often” more frequently than those never convicted. It may be that such a description of a child by the teacher was unreliable; the boy's aggressive behaviour may have been a temporary phenomenon, resulting from actual social situation; aggressiveness revealed at school may have been separate from the entire syndrome of social maladjustment. However, at the present stage of the study we are not in a position to take up any attitude towards these possible explanations. Neither the many-hours loitering around the streets was found to significantly differentiate the delinquent boys from those never convicted. This results from the fact that loitering is a typical way of spending time of the considerable majority of socially maladjusted boys, therefore it does not differentiate those who were convicted from the others. 4. In the group of 262 individually examined boys who revealed intense and cumulated symptoms of social maladjustment, the extent of delinquency appeared to be larger than in the entire population of 885 socially maladjusted schoolboys from which this group has been selected. During anamnesis, 32 per cent of boys had criminal cases in family courts; 78.9 per cent of them had only one case, 18.3 per cent had two cases, and 2.8 per cent -three or more cases. During the follow-up period, 28.2 per cent of the examined boys had cases in court, including 14.1 per cent who had cases in family courts only, 7.6 per cent who had cases in ordinary courts only, and 6.5 per cent who had cases both in family and in ordinary courts. Within the whole of the examined period (both anamnesis and follow-up period), nearly half of the examined boys were convicted: 29.4 per cent had cases in family courts only, 5.3 per cent- in ordinary courts only, and 14.1 per cent-both in family and in ordinary courts. Therefore, every second boy from the group with intense and cumulated symptoms of social maladjustment had cases in court within the examined period, while every fourth one from the entire population had been convicted. Poor material and housing conditions of the family, insufficient care of children, broken home and bad conjugal life of the parents were not found to be significantly connected with the delinquency of the examined boys. Instead, a correlation of statistical significance was found between delinquency and excessive drinking of the fathers, their own criminal records and periods of imprisonment, as well as between the sons' delinquency and the lack of elementary education of the parents. On the other hand, no difference was found between delinquents and non-delinquents as regards the teachers' estimation of their intelligence level and learning difficulties pointed out by their mothers and themselves. None of the biopsychical variables taken into account in the study was found to differentiate both groups: lowered level of intelligence, eyesight defect, hearing defect, disturbances of speech, dyslexia, probable past lesions of the central nervous system, troubles with concentration, very slow rate of working. Persisting neurotic symptoms. Indeed, these factors were present rather more frequently among the non-delinquent boys, distinctly connected with their learning problems and school failures. On the other hand, delinquents actually repeated classes more frequently than non-delinquents, got bad marks in various subjects, and their learning progress was estimated as worse by the teachers. Delinquent boys more frequently behaved badly at school beginning from the lowest standards, they played truant from various lessons, were disobedient and disturbed the course of the lessons, had lower marks for behaviour and stated that they did not like school. The socially maladjusted delinquents used to spend time in company of friends older than themselves more often than the non-delinquent boys; they themselves described those friends as badly behaved and drinking alcohol. They were also substantially more often connected with groups of juvenile delinquents according to the teachers' opinion. They revealed a considerably larger intensity of symptoms of social maladjustment. Among these symptoms, only the frequency of aggressive behaviour failed to differentiate the delinquent and non-delinquent boys, which means that as regards the individually examined group, the result concerning the entire population was confirmed. Therefore, the delinquency of the examined persons was related to the greater intensity of their social maladjustment, to their negative family environment and their school situation connected not only with objective learning difficulties but also with the child's reluctant attitude towards school and teachers, and with the teachers' disfavourable opinion of his learning progress and behaviour. It is also worth mentioning that in the control group of 151 schoolboys who were not indicated by the teachers as revealing symptoms of social maladjustment, only one person was found who had been convicted by court during the entire examined period.

227-244

Authors: Helena Kołakowska-Przełomiec

The present article contains a detailed description and results of analysis of cases of abduction and detention sentenced in Poland in 1979. The total of these cases was 9. Abduction or detention, specified in Art. 188 of the Polish Penal Code, belongs to the group of offences against the family. Art. 188 of the Penal Code provides, that "whoever contrary to the will of the person appointed to take care or to supervise, abducts or detains a minor or a person who is helpless by reason of this mental or physical condition, shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for from 6 months to 5 years”. Theoretical studies and commentaries to the Penal Code stress the fact that the subject of legal protection in Art. 188 of the Penal Code is the institution of care and supervision. Art. 188 is turned against lawless one-sided alterations in the relation, directly determined or adjudicated by court, of care or supervision of a person specified in this Article. It is also indicated that this Article aims at protecting the child from the lawlessness of this quarrelling parents or other persons. It is also characteristic that the commentaries stress the fact that the motives from which the perpetrator acted are unessential as regards the existence of an offence specified in Art. 188. A small number of persons sentenced for abduction or detention does not mean that offences of this kind are of little social significance. The real extent of this phenomenon is much greater than indicated by the small number of sentenced persons. As the common knowledge shows, the cases of lawless taking away of the children by quarrelling parents or relatives are frequent. Thus it could have been expected that the cases of abduction or detention which had been investigated by court as offences might be particularly drastic of nature. Yet the analysis of all cases failed to confirm this supposition. Among the 9 cases, there were 4 cases of "abdcution" and 5 cases of "detention'' of minors. None of the cases concerned a helpless person. In as few as 2 cases the minors were strangers unrelated to the perpetrator. In four cases, the minors were sons of the perpetrators, in one case the minor was the perpetrator's daughter, in one case – granddaughter; also in one case, the minor was the perpetrator’s cousion. Among the perpetrators of „abduction" or „detention” there were six men and three women. The analysis of all criminal cases specified in Art. 188 reveals two sides of this type of offence: a) the aspect of family, care, and education, b) the criminal aspect. However, these two sides are not closely connected with one another. The cases of "abduction and detention" as represented in the paper reveal the background on which it comes to various forms of behaviour of parents towards children and towards each other. In the majority of cases, an intervention of guardianship authorities in the life of parents and children has already taken place and various provisions have been made. However, they failed to eliminate the existing conflicts, what is more, they increased them. The further execution of these decisions lacks additional supervision which would ensure a free contact with the child for the parent with whom the child does, not reside permanently, and, on the other hand, which would limit the lawlessness of mothers who do not allow the fathers to contact the children they care for. Therefore, in the examined cases we deal with "abduction'' or "detention'' of a child by his father who is faced with difficulties on the mother's part when he wants to see his child. The analysed cases are not drastic in character as regards the conduct of perpetrators and the circumstances of their offence. On the other hand, they are generally most drastic as regards legal proceedings in such cases and sentences. The examined fathers, mother, grandmother, and cousin are treated as offenders: persecuted, charged, tried, and sentenced for acts which, even if they disturbed the institution of care, could be treated as family and care cases. Generally it seems that the criminal character of the analysed cases is independent and separate, so to say, from the entire aspect of family, care, and education of these cases. It may be assumed that this situation is to a certain degree conditioned by the dogmatic and formalistic approach in the proceedings and sentencing in these cases, which is based on the formulation found in commentaries, that the perpetrator’s motives are unrelevant to the existence of the offence, and that the subject of legal protection in Art. 188 is the institution of care and supervision, not the interest of the abducted person. In the final part of the present paper it is stressed that while protecting the institution of care, one should still take into consideration first of all the interest of the child for whom this institution is to function. It is also in the child's interest that his parents and close relations do not become criminals because of him. The cases of „abduction and detention of a minor” should be examined as cases of family and care, penal law proceedings instituted only in cases of actual abduction of a minor, first of all that committed by strangers.