The proposed amendment to the Polish criminal procedure from the perspective of some of the procedural principles

The article aims to present the analysis of the future reform of criminal procedure from the perspective of certain procedural principles. The foundation of the proposed amendment is the principle of an adversarial hearing and the release of the Court from the obligation to carry out evidence ex officio. The reform provides also for the extension of the scope of procedural agreements leading to the accelerated completion of criminal proceedings. Such proposals may raise concerns from the point of view of the principle of objective truth and the principle of equality of arms. Pursuant to art. 42 (2) of the Constitution and to art. 6 of the CCP, it is believed that the right to defence in the Polish criminal process covers both the substantive aspect (as the sum of guarantees given to the defendant with regards to his defence in a process) and the formal aspect (the defendant’s right to receive assistance of a defence counsel). Even though the quality of a defence counsel’s work should be considered as one of the guarantees of due process, it must be stated that, in the context of the Polish criminal process system in the 21st century, there are constraints on the effectiveness of the defense that are independent of the defense counsel’s efforts.c.kulesza@uwb.edu.plUniwersytet w Białymstok