Ewolucja procesowej ochrony pokrzywdzonego przestępstwami seksualnymi w toku przesłuchania – analiza art. 185c Kodeksu postępowania karnego

Abstract

In this publication, the author raises issues related to the special mode of interrogation of a victim of a sexual offense regulated by Art. 185c of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The purpose of the analysis was to determine whether the legislator properly provided protection to such a victim against the effects of secondary victimization. The research was twofold – first, the provision was analyzed before the amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure of 19 February 2019. In this way, the author of the publication tried to determine whether the then-wording of the provision sufficiently provided protection and, therefore, whether it was necessary to introduce changes in this respect. Then, using the historical method, the author compared the wording of the article before the amendment with its wording after the amendment. Thanks to this, it was possible to determine whether the currently applicable art. 185c of the Code of Criminal Procedure reduces the flaws of the previous legal status. Having performed the analyzes, the author states that until the day of entry into force of the amendment, protection of the victim against repeated harm was only provisional. There were many shortcomings in this respect and thus it was necessary to introduce changes. In addition, the author states that the introduced changes significantly improved the situation of the victim of a sexual crime. Modifications to the interrogation mode should therefore be assessed positively. However, there are still many solutions that need to be transformed. In this respect, the author puts forward several de lege ferenda postulates.