Abstract
Governmental response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Poland was and still is of very controversial nature, as legislative measures introduced in March 2020 are considered by most lawyers to be unconstitutional. They were also used for purposes unrelated to the pandemic. As regards impact of the pandemic, and governmental measures on crime rates and patterns, the emerging picture is not clear: there was neither consistent growth nor decline of crime. As a matter of fact, during the year 2020, many offences tended to decline, as they did during the last couple of years. But there were some exceptions to that rule. There is no doubt that the pandemic and its accompanying measures could have had a radical impact on increasing or decreasing opportunities for various forms of crime. However, available data for the entire year 2020 do not necessarily show patterns consistent with assumptions regarding changes in opportunity structures.
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Notes
- 1.
Statistical data on COVID-19 pandemic in Poland are available at https://koronawirusunas.pl. Accessed 26 June 2021
- 2.
For additional data see Poland: Coronavirus Pandemic Country Profile. https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/poland. Accessed 24 August 2021
- 3.
Available at https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/03/17/poland-records-eus-highest-excess-death-rate-in-2020/. Accessed 26 June 2021
- 4.
To achieve this the government even tried to bypass competences of the State Electoral Commission normally responsible for organization and overview of all elections and to entrust electoral process entirely to the Polish Post. This clearly illegal attempt was finally abandoned because there were doubts even within the ruling majority. Elections took place in August in normal form and brought narrow victory for the incumbent Andrzej Duda. It is widely believed that results of the elections were not tampered with, although the electoral process was not fair.
- 5.
Under the Polish law as juveniles are treated offenders younger than 17 at the time of an offence
- 6.
Data of the State Agency for Alcohol Problems available at https://www.parpa.pl/index.php/badania-i-informacje-statystyczne/stathystyki. Accessed 22 June 2021
- 7.
These offences involve both supply and use offences, with substantial majority of registered cases being relatively petty, simple possession cases, vigorously enforced by the Polish police for years.
- 8.
The data on drunken driving are not presented on the graph because of very high rates as compared with any other offence. This would make the diagram illegible.
- 9.
Although it is true that initiation of the ‘blue card procedure’ does not depend entirely on the victim, as it may be initiated by various other agents. But in practice it is initiated first of all as a consequence of police interventions in domestic trouble, and such interventions are usually initiated by the victims.
- 10.
It may be true that in Poland many car owners do not buy Casco insurance. But this regards primarily old, used cars, and they are probably at the same time less prone to car theft. Those who own new cars usually buy Casco insurance.
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Krajewski, K. (2022). Crime, Law Enforcement and Rule of Law in Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland. In: Siegel, D., Dobryninas, A., Becucci, S. (eds) Covid-19, Society and Crime in Europe. Studies of Organized Crime, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13562-0_4
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