CONDITIONAL DISCONTINUANCE OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN THE POLISH LEGAL SYSTEM

THE FIFTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND THE ASSESSMENT OF PROSPECTS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This analysis addresses the issue of conditional discontinuance of criminal proceedings in the Polish legal system. The deliberations concern the normative nature of this measure of penal response, its hybrid legal regulation and its evolution during the period of 50 years of its operation. The analysis takes into account current trends in the Polish criminal procedure and the position of conditional discontinuance as a criminal policy instrument in view of the increase in the relevance of consensual forms of criminal procedure. It primarily addresses the procedural regulation of conditional discontinuance contained in the Polish Criminal Procedure Code. The Polish experience in the use of conditional discontinuance as a criminal policy instrument against perpetrators of minor social harmfulness, non-demoralised, with positive prediction shows that the institution has proved itself and should be used more broadly in the practice of the judiciary. The prospects for increasing the use of conditional discontinuance as an effective, due to the modern substantive and procedural penal legislation, measure of combating crime have been discussed.