Polityczność dyskusji o prawie karnym

The time of the turn XX and the XXI century in Poland is a period in which the discussion of crime and methods of fighting it is very vivid. People interested in the matter are not only lawyers but, what is more important, also politicians, journalists and, thanks to media, ordinary citizens. The main interest is focused on the ways of reacting to crimes. Questions traditionally asked are: "Will the crime rate decrease when the punishment is more severe?" and, consequently "Should we make law stricter because of the increasing crime rate?". The cause of the discussion is a reform of criminal law, especially some points of new criminal code introduced in 1997, and some proposals of other amendments. Obviously, the tendency to follow strict criminal policy is a combination of many different factors, among others are the fear of crime and the feeling of insecurity, which have been increasing gradually along with the real increase in crime rate. The growing fear of crime was also broadly presented in media. The feelings were used by politicians, who included they ways of fighting the problems in their political programs and election campaigns.