Practice of Questioning Minor Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings in Light of Survey Studies

A minor may be questioned in a criminal trial as a witness. This issue does not currently raise doubts, and the admissibility of these questioning stems from, among other things, the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, as well as from judicial decisions and views presented in the scholarly literature. The questioning of a minor is carried out, depending on the circumstances of the case and the age of the witness, in the ordinary mode or the protective mode. However, in any case, regardless of the mode of questioning, the procedural authority is obliged to ensure that this procedural act is carried out in a way that protects the child from secondary victimisation and allows child’s rights to be exercised. In order to examine whether these standards are complied with, as well as to determine how this procedural act is carried out in practice, a survey was conducted among judges adjudicating in Polish common courts, from 5 to 30 April 2022. This article presents the survey results and their evaluation. The paper takes into account the changes introduced by the Act of 13 January 2023 amending the Act – Civil Procedure Code and certain other acts.