Czy uzasadnione jest obligatoryjne surowe karanie recydywistów?
Obligatory Severe Punishment for Recidivists; Is This Truly Justified?

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the definitions of the recidivism in scientific research and in Polish criminal law (substantive, procedural and executive) and the role of studies on the perpetrators (points 1-3). Next (point 4), on the basis of court conviction statistics, we present the structure of recidivist crimes in three selected years: in 1984 (late People’s Republic of Poland period), 1in 997 (last year of the applicability of the previous Criminal Code and the period of transformations in Poland), and in 2007 (ten years after the entry into force of the new Criminal Code, in 1997). The analysis leads to two major conclusions: the predominance among recidivists of crime against property (in all three years above 70%) and, the predominance, within this category, of crime less socially harmful as compared to crimes perpetrated by other groups of the convicted. In the last part (point 5), we claim that in the light of research on the punishment effectiveness and the psychological definition of guilt, the response of the criminal law against the recidivism, consisting in more severe punishment, may not be fully substantiated.

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