Between freedom and hate/ selected aspects of criminal law regulation of hate speech crimes /

Abstract

The publication presents the phenomenon of hate speech in the context of the regulations of Polish criminal law, which mainly refers to hate crime, in particular art. 119, 256, 257 of the Criminal Code (hereinafter the CC). It was preceded by a short description of the evolution of hate speech in Poland, which leads to an analysis of the contemporary socio-political situation in Poland and an assessment of the legal status. around the ongoing public discussion on this issue, including the constant presence of hate speech in the public space. The conducted historical and social arguments lead to the discussion of hate speech crimes identified by the Polish legislator in Art. 119, 256 and 257 of the Penal Code In order to bring closer the contemporary penalisation of hate crimes, the author uses the historical regulations in force in Poland, which are, in a way, the sources of contemporary legislation in this matter. On the basis of the doctrine and jurisprudence, the contemporary validity of the provisions on hate speech crimes was discussed. The reader's attention was also focused on the evolution of the contemporary regulation of the discussed criminal offenses in the context of the planned amendments to the penal code and the parliamentary and civic bills reported on this matter. The analysis of the criminal law aspects of hate speech crimes leads to conclusions regarding the presence in public debate of various forms of expression involving hate speech, the conflict between the freedom of speech (freedom of expression) and hate speech used in communication by politicians and ordinary people in the democratic structure of the rule of law, and the role of and the obligations of the legislator who, with some inconsistency, intervenes in this space, trying to assure the society of the need for changes in this respect or the lack of it. Hence, there are also various ideas and draft changes to the law in this area, incl. by extending the scope of penalizing the behaviors indicated in art. 119 of the Penal Code motivated by the need to increase the protection of victims.