Judicial Conceptualizations of Justice and Just Punishment: An Empirical Study of Polish Criminal Court Judges

• In Event: Judicial Discretion in the Sentencing Process 1.

Abstract

The conceptualization of "justice" and "just punishment" has been the subject of extensive theoretical discourse in criminology, penology, and philosophy. Ultimately, however, it is individual practitioners who administer justice and, through their daily adjudicative practices, construct an operational definition of these concepts.
This presentation seeks to examine how judges presiding over criminal cases in Polish courts conceptualize "justice" and "just punishment," as well as to explore the principles guiding the imposition of just punishment.
The analysis is based on 21 in-depth expert interviews conducted with judges adjudicating criminal cases across various levels of the Polish judiciary. The findings indicate that judges adopt diverse interpretations of "justice" and "just punishment," which, in turn, translates into varying methodological approaches to sentencing. A key factor influencing their conceptualization of justice appears to be their professional experience and length of judicial service.

Author

• Dominik Wzorek, Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences