NCJ Number
161154
Date Published
1996
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This paper traces the history of the Polish judicial system and its adaptation to social change up to the present.
Abstract
Poland is currently in the process of substantial reform as the government moves from communism/socialism to democracy. Many of the first reforms focused on the courts and the legal process. In this process, power was taken from the police and the office of the prosecutor and returned to the judges and the courts, a reversal of the trend that persisted in the years following World War II. In the new order, the prosecutors more closely supervise and control the police, and the judges more closely supervise and control the prosecutors. To some extent the shift began without change in the law, but with a change in the implementation of concessions (changes in the law) granted as early as 1969 but not implemented. A new penal code and a revision of civil and penal principles of procedure are in progress and will be completed and implemented in the near future. The Polish Constitution of 1791 survived for only 1 year because of the intrusion of external forces in the affairs of the Polish state. Although that constitution was suspended, the principles that it emphasized remained viable in the Polish culture and reappeared periodically as Poland moved through the 19th and 20th centuries. The reform currently underway is re-establishing most of those principles. With the exception of the use of the jury system, the Polish justice system that will emerge as the reform effort is completed will be similar to that of the United States and to the constitutions of the other democracies of the world. A 15-item bibliography