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Jerzy Jasinski

Abstract

The paper is an appraisal of crime in Poland in the 1990s. Crime in Poland is looked at from three different though related perspectives: crime known to the police, unrecorded crime and attitudes of citizens towards crime. The paper discusses the types of crime in terms of prevalence and how it has changed during the period of political and economic transition (e.g. growth of violent crime, spread of economic offences, increase in the activity of organized crime). Each of the three perspectives is also described in terms of data available and from the point of view of methodological differences in the way the data were collected before and after the fall of communism. These differences are important as otherwise they may lead misinterpretations of crime trends. Furthermore, the paper provides a discussion of the role of media in shaping citizens’ attitudes towards crime and their perceptions of safety. The paper also discusses the results of numerous public opinion surveys about the relative importance of safety and crime versus other problems facing Poland.

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Section
Articles