Główne problemy przestępczości w Polsce

Abstract

Discussing the main problems of crime in Poland, the author, among others, points out that the criminal groups have increased in number and their professionalism has deepened; more crimes, both of criminal and economic nature, are committed in groups in an organized and preplanned way. At the same time the process of internationalization of organized crime is being observed, which, among others, is facilitated by such factors as universal cash transactions in the country, allowable transfer of foreign currency across borders, opened borders which are penetrated by organized crime groups speaking Russian and the system of protection of legal order which still is not uniform in Poland. The main trends of crime in Poland, and in particular the alarming changes in the level of crime and in the picture of the different crime types, are - in the author's opinion - basically a reflection of modem trends in crime all over the world. Continuously rising crime rates create the need to look for more effective methods of counteracting crime. In the process of looking for such new methods, one always comes across the conflict between human rights and procedural guarantees on one hand, and the effectiveness of prosecuting agencies and the administration of justice on the other. Interests of the administration of justice sometimes require that human rights and procedural protections be restricted. It is obvious that citizens' feeling of security does not depend only on effective actions of these agencies. It is determined by many factors, beginning with good laws and ending with the execution of court judgements. Law-making policies demand not only strict obedience to the principles of legislative techniques and procedures but also intensive efforts aimed at making law more affective. The following wellknown rule should be mandatory: the most effectiveness with the least represiveness of law. In reality however, not enough lawyers sitting in legislative bodies and overly frequent amendments to various laws, result in violations of the above-mentioned techniques and legislative procedures. This creates many interpretation doubts and causes real or apparent gaps in the deficient legal regulations. In conclusion the author also stresses that delays in judicial proceedings (and lately also in proceedings in Public Prosecutors Offices) have become a great inconvenience for those citizens who have to deal with the administration of justice, since there is a conflict between citizen right to access the administration of justice (granted by some new laws) and the inefficiency or even failure of courts. Unfortunately, democratic reforms have not resulted in substantially higher expenditures on the administration of justice. Consequently, citizen access to courts (measured by the time needed to wait for a case to be examined, and by the amounts of court fees) has become highly problematic. There is no doubt that financial resources should be found for this goal in Poland. Otherwise, some documents of international law which Poland has already ratified (which is a condition of obtaining the status of a ,,rule-of-law state”) will be left hanging in a vacuum, while the choice will continuously have to be made between citizen rights and the so-called reality.