Abstract

The article presents practical problems of criminalization of offences and punishment, in particular adjudicated under Art. 91(1) of the Penal Code. The first part focuses on the institution of a wobbler, a direct result of which may be criminalization of the sentence in the course of enforcement proceedings. The main problem relates to the situation whereby one of the offences committed by the perpetrator in a series of offences was classified as a misdemeanour as a result of partial decriminalization. For comparative purposes, possible situations of legal qualification of an offence or offences whereby criminalization of punishment is allowed have been analysed. The problem in question was shown on the example of the judgment of the District Court in B. of 5 April 2018, ref. no. IV Kzw 751/17, passed when Art. 119 of the Misdemeanour Code read as follows: “whoever steals or appropriates a movable thing of a third person the value of which does not exceed 1 of the minimum wage shall be liable to the punishment of detention, restriction of freedom or fine”. The article presents the effects and problems resulting from such situation, particularly with regard to the sentence passed and the need to change it.