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Offences by Foreigners (From Crime & Law Enforcement in Poland: On the Threshold of the 21st Century, P 150-155, 2000, Andrzej Siemaszko, ed., -- See NCJ-198182)

NCJ Number
198190
Author(s)
Irena Rzeplinska
Date Published
2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Increasing numbers of non-Polish citizens suspected and convicted of committing crimes in Poland is the focus of this chapter.
Abstract
This chapter discusses the increasing numbers of non-Polish citizens suspected and convicted of committing crimes in Poland in the 1990’s. After arguing that the transformation of the political system in Poland in 1989 also brought changes in the crime sector, the author argues that in keeping with the principle of territoriality, a foreigner contravening the law on Polish territory or in Polish sea or aircrafts is subject to Polish criminal law. Detailing the scale and dynamics of crimes committed by foreigners in Poland, the author discusses an 18-fold increase in the number of foreign criminal suspects between 1984 and 1996. While most crimes committed in Poland by foreigners involved excise offenses such as trading in alcohol, cigarettes, and compact disks without Treasury labels, road offenses, offenses against property, using false documentation, offenses against life and health, homicides, illegal border crossings, organized crime, and drug-related crimes were being increasingly committed by non-Polish citizens in Poland as well. The author concludes that international cooperation is essential in order to effectively deal with problems of foreign crime in Poland.