After World War II, the Polish criminal justice system was excessively repressive, and the ambit of criminal law was unduly broad, while the interests of the individual were not properly protected. The criminal justice system was designed and used by the ruling party elite as an instrument for achieving the long-term goals of reconstructing society according to principles of orthodox Marxism-Leninism and to protect the communist power structure. Often, the system was also used to attain short-term political goals. In October 1980, a memorandum signed by over 100 criminal law and criminology professors was presented to the Minister of Justice, identifying areas where reform was needed through legislation to remedy the most repressive features of the system. In December 1980, an independent group of scholars, mainly from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, was formed under the auspices of Solidarity to prepare a blueprint for the future of Polish criminal law. The two groups completed their activities in the late spring of 1981 and presented reports that were to be discussed publicly. As of this writing (December 1981), it appears unlikely that any major reform of Polish criminal law will be adopted in the near future. In any reform, priority should be given to (1) securing the real independence of the judiciary, (2) changing the status of the procuracy by subordinating it to the Ministry of Justice, and (3) introducing some innovative forms of social control over the system's functioning. Tabular data are provided on prison sentences imposed by Polish courts for 1970-79, and 12 footnotes are included.