Review of the resolutions of the Supreme Court Criminal Chamber concerning substantive and procedural criminal law in 2024

Abstract

The article is of a scientific and research nature, and analyses the resolutions and decisions of the Supreme Court Criminal Chamber related to procedural criminal law, which were issued in 2024, as a result of the examination of the so-called legal questions. The subject of the considerations are: discontinuation of criminal proceedings due to res judicata (Article 17 § 1 item 10 of the Code of Criminal Procedure), effectiveness of the injured party’s statement on acting as an auxiliary prosecutor (Article 54 § 1 CCP), re examination of an injured party who was under 15 years of age at the time of the examination (Article 185a § 1 CCP), admissibility of examining in criminal proceedings the validity or effectiveness of a constitutional act appointing a judge by the President of the Republic of Poland (Article 439 § 1 item 1 CCP), referral of a legal issue for resolution to the Supreme Court (Article 441 § 1 CCP), meaning of the phrase “in unregulated matters” (Article 558 CCP), compensation and redress due to a child of a mother deprived of liberty (Article 8b, section 1 of the February Act), effectiveness of the appointment of the First Deputy Prosecutor General acting as the National Prosecutor (Article 47, section 1 of the Law on Higher Administrative Courts), effectiveness of the appointment of the National Prosecutor without the opinion of the President of the Republic of Poland (Article 14, section 1 of the Law on Prosecutors), effectiveness of the appointment of a district prosecutor (Article 15, section 1 of the Law on Prosecutors), application for the Supreme Court to adjudicate on discrepancies in the interpretation of the law (Article 83, section 1 of the Law on Supreme Court), reopening of proceedings concluded with a final disciplinary judgment or a resolution authorising the holding of criminal liability of a judge. The aim of the analysis was to assess the accuracy of the decisions of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court using the dogmatic-legal method.