Instrumenty służące realizacji zasady równości w wymiarze kary
Instruments for implementing the principle of equality in sentencing

Summary/Abstract: Compliance with the principle of equality is undoubtedly one of the fundamental conditions for just punishment. The discrepancies in the judgments of common courts regarding the penalties imposed provided the impetus for examining the role of the principle of equality in criminal law and the methods available to the Supreme Court and common courts for achieving it at the sentencing stage. Attention was also drawn to the multiplicity of factors influencing or capable of influencing the determination of a sentence, including the significant role played by substantive and procedural law regulations in this process, as well as the judge as the decision-maker in this regard. The analysis of the regulations currently in force within the Polish legal system allowed for the identification of a broad and varied catalogue of instruments, such as the statement of reasons for a judgment, appellate review, a complaint against the judgment of an appellate court, a cassation appeal, and a resolution of the Supreme Court, whose application within both the Supreme Court and common courts can serve to unify sentencing case law. This provided the basis for concluding that the fundamental issue seems to be not the need to seek new tools, but rather judicial authorities' awareness of the possibilities offered by the existing regulations and their ability to use them skilfully in practice.

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