Looking for an Effective Policy for Applying Imprisonment

• In Event: Criminalization and Imprisonment

Abstract

At present, imprisonment is widely criticised as inhumane and ineffective. In Poland, imprisonment accounts for about 40% of the general prison population. Short-term penalties (from 6 months to a year) are most often applied (more than every third), while long-term penalties (over 3 years) constitute approximately 7%. The incarceration rate (prisoners per 100,000 people) is nearly 200 – almost the highest in the European Union (in 2023, Poland was in second place, just behind Hungary) and the rates of the most serious crimes are among the lowest at the same time. All this leads to the question of whether it is worth imposing an imprisonment sentence so often, how much it costs, what is the effectiveness of this penalty and how to measure this effectiveness. By looking closely at court and prison statistics, we’ve uncovered factors that could influence to prison population. The crime rate is only one and not crucial, next to e.g. penal policy, prison release policy, and changes in criminal and penal enforcement law. During the presentation, we’ll give some facts and figures that try to answer how effective policy for applying imprisonment could be, how it is being done, and how it could be done.

Authors

• Joanna Klimczak, Institute of Justice, Poland

• Paweł Ostaszewski, University of Warsaw / Institute of Justice, Poland

• Justyna Włodarczyk-Madejska, Institute of Law Studies Polish Academy of Sciences and Institute of Justice, Poland