Abstract: »The subject of the Master's thesis is the legal and criminological problem of the crime of rape with particular emphasis on the issue of the mode of prosecution. The first chapter of the thesis concerns the crime of rape in historical terms, i.e., the analysis of the regulation penalizing the crime of rape in the codes of 1932, 1969, and 1997. It contains a detailed elaboration of the features of the crime of rape in the successive penal codes in force in Poland, as well as an analysis of the court decisions and comments of the legal community. The main issue in the thesis is the subject matter of the procedure for prosecuting the crime of rape. Since the beginning of the existence of the crime of rape in the Polish legal system, rape was prosecuted at the sole request of the injured person. The amendment of January 27, 2014 changed the mode of prosecution of the crime of rape. The discussion on this change arose many years before it was made and divided the legal community. Therefore, the paper presents arguments of both supporters and opponents of prosecution at the wronged party's request. Supporters of rape prosecution argued that the change of the procedure will have a positive impact on the prosecution of the perpetrators and contribute to an increase in convictions. In the next chapter, based on police and court statistics, it was analysed whether the change of mode actually had any impact on statistics. Finally, the issue of secondary victimization of rape victims was discussed, as well as selected postulates for changes in rape laws.« (Source: Jagiellonian University Repository)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of Poland / History of Poland (1918-1939), History of Poland (1945-1989) | Law: Law of Poland / Polish Penal Code | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape