NCJ Number
75706
Journal
International Review of Criminal Policy Issue: 32 Dated: (1976) Pages: 26-34
Date Published
1976
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The socioeconomic effects of alcohol abuse in Poland and the use of criminal law to control alcohol-related offenses are discussed.
Abstract
The abuse of alcohol is perhaps the most acute social problem in Poland. While the per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages is not high, individuals who drink tend to consume large quantities of vodka in short periods. Thus, about 2 million individuals drink excessively and 500,000 of them need medical treatment for their drinking problems. Total costs for alcohol abuse, including productivity losses and treatment expense, probably represent at least 10 percent of the gross national product. Furthermore, a large percentage of offenses committed in the country may be related to alcohol abuse; intoxication-rates in homicides and serious traffic accidents are especially high. Because of the crime-intoxication relationship, Polish law has taken a strict line on criminal culpability under the influence of alcohol. In general, inebriation is under Polish penal law an aggravating rather than a mitigating circumstance which must be considered in imposing a penalty for an offense. Under professonal sobriety regulations, persons performing certain professional activities are obliged by law to refrain from drinking before and during work; violation of this law is punishable with a fine or even imprisonment in aggravated cases. According to a further set of regulations, individuals are subject to detention or fine when operating a motor vehicle after having drunk alcohol or when allowing any inebriated individual to operate a vehicle the person owns. Penalties for hooliganism are severe if the act was committed under the influence of alcohol, as are penalties for child abuse. Finally, making alcoholic beverages available to minors under 18 years old or urging them to drink such beverages is punishable by imprisonment of up to 3 years. Preventive measures require offenders convicted of alcohol abuse to refrain from further abuse under threat of legal consequences or placement in a social readaptation center. Compulsory medical treatment may also be imposed as the court sees fit; physical coercion may be used if a convicted person does not submit voluntarily to treatment. A number of other measures are also applied by social and governmental bodies to limit alcohol abuse. Footnotes are supplied.