Survey-Based Assessments of Institutions in the Polish Justice System
Survey-Based Assessments of Institutions in the Polish Justice System

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses how institutions of the Polish justice system (courts, public prosecution and the police) have been assessed in the regular surveys carried out by CBOS since the nineteen nineties. It seems that the decline in assessment of the courts and prosecution can be traced back to the “fear of crime” during the first decade of the transition. However, it remains puzzling why assessments of the police have risen back to their early-nineties levels (and are now even higher) while those of the courts and public prosecution have remained noticeably worse and net-negative. To this end, CBOS was commissioned to conduct a survey on a quota sample (CAWI) to examine perception of the Polish criminal justice system’s performance, in terms of the likelihood of type 1 and type 2 errors. It found that over one in three respondents believed the system failed both in the punishment of criminals and the acquittal of those wrongfully accused.

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