Sentencing Reform in Poland, 2015–2025

Developments in penal policy and sentencing in Poland between 2015 and 2025 were dominated by the effects of sentencing reforms introduced in 2015 to reduce a notoriously high incarceration rate, one of the highest in Europe, and reconstitute a system of sanctions dominated, as elsewhere in Central Europe, by use of suspended sentences. The effects were mixed. The use of suspended sentences decreased dramatically, and the use of fines and community service increased greatly. Those changes had little effect, however, on the incarceration rate. One cause of previous high rates was that a large proportion of suspended sentences were revoked following breaches of conditions; defaulters were often imprisoned for longer than if they had initially received an unsuspended prison sentence. History is repeating itself: since 2015, high numbers of fine and community service defaulters have begun to fill the prisons. The Polish criminal justice system is in general becoming more punitive: use of pretrial detention and immediate imprisonment is increasing, terms are becoming longer, and early release is declining. “Democratic backsliding” in 2015–23 under the populist Law and Justice government distorted the implementation of the 2015 reforms.