LIABILITY OF MINORS FOR PROHIBITED ACTS IN POLISH LAW
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18372/2307-9061.75.20233Keywords:
liability of minors, punishable acts, Polish penal law, crime, misdemeanour, fiscal offenceAbstract
Purpose: to describe the issue of liability of minors for acts prohibited under threat of punishment in Polish law. Research methods: the dogmatic-legal method was used (analysis of Polish normative acts), literature on the liability of minors for punishable acts was analysed, as well as statistical data relating to the research issue. Results: as a general rule, minors (i.e. persons who were under 17 years of age at the time of the act) are not criminally liable for acts that are punishable as crimes. The Polish Penal Code provides for exceptional criminal liability for certain crimes in the case of minors who were at least 15 or 14 years of age at the time of the act (Article 10 § 2 and 2a). On the other hand, minors are never criminally liable for acts prohibited as misdemeanours and fiscal offences (fiscal crimes or fiscal misdemeanours). Besides, minors who have committed an act punishable as a crime, a misdemeanour or a fiscal offence may be liable under the rules set out in the Act of 9 June 2022 on the Support and Resocialisation of Minors. The minor may then be subject to educational measures, a therapeutic measure and a corrective measure. Discussion: due to age restrictions, the range of crimes for which minors may be criminally liable, as well as other prerequisites for such liability provided for in Article 10 § 2 and 2a of the Polish Penal Code, minors are very rarely held criminally liable for acts prohibited as crimes. Minors who have committed a punishable act are mainly held liable in the family courts, but this is not criminal liability within the meaning of the Penal Code, the Misdemeanours Code and the Fiscal Penal Code. In general, the scale of minors’ delinquency in Poland has significantly decreased in recent years.
References
Act of 6 June 1997 – Penal Code, consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2024, item 17 as amended; hereinafter referred to as PC.
Act of 20 May 1971 – Misdemeanours Code, consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2023, item 2119 as amended; hereinafter referred to as MC.
Act of 10 September 1999 – Fiscal Penal Code, consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2024, item 628 as amended; hereinafter referred to as FPC.
Consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2024, item 597 as amended; hereinafter referred to as ASRM.
Crime statistics in Ukraine available on the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. URL: https://gp.gov.ua/ua/posts/pro-osib-yaki-vchinili-kriminalni-pravoporushennya-2 (access date 6.03.2025).
Consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1939 as amended.
Final judgments against minors by punishable act and sex (Prawomocne orzeczenia wobec nieletnich według czynów karalnych i płci). URL: https://isws.ms.gov.pl/pl/baza-statystyczna/opracowania-wieloletnie/download,2853,31.html (access date 6.03.2025).
Atlas przestępczości w Polsce, Gruszczyńska B., Marczewski M., Siemaszko A., Ostaszewski P., Włodarczyk-Madejska J., Klimczak J., Warszawa, 2021, p. 153.
Dziergawka A., [in:] Ustawa o wspieraniu i resocjalizacji nieletnich. Komentarz, eds. Drembkowski P., Kowalski G., Warszawa, 2023, commentary on Article 1, marginal numer 10.
Konarska-Wrzosek V., [in:] Wspieranie i resocjalizacja nieletnich. Komentarz, ed. Konarska-Wrzosek V., Warszawa, 2023, commentary on Article 9, thesis 2; Radlak K., [in:] Ustawa o wspieraniu i resocjalizacji nieletnich. Komentarz, eds. Drembkowski P., Kowalski G., Warszawa, 2023, commentary on Article 9, marginal numers 8–11.
Budyn-Kulik M., [in:] Kodeks karny. Komentarz aktualizowany, ed. Mozgawa M., LEX/el. 2025, commentary on Article 10, thesis 10.
Zoll A., [in:] Kodeks karny. Część ogólna. Komentarz, Vol. I, Komentarz do art. 1–52, eds. Wróbel W., Zoll A., Warszawa, 2016, commentary on Article 10, thesis 20.
Wąsek A., Kodeks karny. Komentarz, Vol. I, Gdańsk, 1999, p. 134.
Lachowski J., Kodeks karny. Komentarz, ed. Konarska-Wrzosek V., Warszawa, 2023, commentary on Article 10, thesis 12.
Budyn-Kulik M., [in:] Kodeks karny. Komentarz aktualizowany, ed. Mozgawa M., LEX/el. 2025, commentary on Article 10, thesis 10.
Wąsek A., Kodeks karny. Komentarz, Vol. I, Gdańsk, 1999, p. 134; Kulik M., Czy nieletni może odpowiadać karnie za niewykonawcze postaci współdziałania przestępnego oraz formy stadialne poprzedzające dokonanie?, Studia Prawnicze 4/2016, p. 135–140; Kulik M., Liability of Juve-niles Under Article 10 § 2 of the Criminal Code for Various Forms of Criminal Cooperation. Part Two, Studia Iuridica Lublinensia 4/2018, p. 122–125.
Kulik M., Liability of Juveniles Under Article 10 § 2 of the Criminal Code for Various Forms of Criminal Cooperation. Part One, Studia Iuridica Lublinensia 2/2018, p. 77–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17951/sil.2018.27.2.77
Zoll A., [in:] Kodeks karny. Część ogólna. Komentarz, Vol. I, Komentarz do art. 1–52, eds. Wróbel W., Zoll A., Warszawa, 2016, commentary on Article 10, thesis 25.
Pohl Ł., Prawo karne. Wykład części ogólnej, Warszawa, 2019, p. 141–142.
Kulik M. Czy nieletni może odpowiadać karnie za niewykonawcze postaci współdziałania przestępnego oraz formy stadialne poprzedzające dokonanie? Studia Prawnicze 4/2016, p. 140–143. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37232/sp.2016.4.7
Pohl Ł. Prawo karne. Wykład części ogólnej, Warszawa, 2019, p. 142.
Marek A., Kodeks karny. Komentarz, Warszawa, 2010, commentary on Article 54, theses 4 and 5.
Decision of the Supreme Court of 30 March 2017, ref. no. III KK 395/16, LEX no. 2259784.
