Limits of imprisonment. Remarks on the background of the novel of the Criminal Code of 7 July 2022 and current directions of changes in criminal law

Abstract

The Act of July 7, 2022 on amendments to the Criminal Code and certain other laws, among a major reconstruction of Polish criminal law, made an unprecedented in modern Polish codifications expansion of the courts' discretion in imposing a sentence of imprisonment. Under the current provisions of Article 37 of the Criminal Code, it is possible to impose a sentence of imprisonment up to the upper limit of 30 years. In this article, the author will attempt to answer the question of the justification for such a significant increase in judicial discretion in the application of imprisonment, while at the same time there is no increase in the measures to rationalize the amount of this penalty on the grounds of a particular case. The article discusses recent amendments to Article 37 of the Criminal Code and current legislative trends regarding the limits of imprisonment.