Security measures in Polish penal law in the context of international human rights standards

Abstract

The subject of the article is the relation of security measures in Polish penal law to internationally protected human rights standards, especially to the guarantees provided by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950 and the case-law elaborated by European Court of Human Rights on the basis of the Convention. The main focus of the article is on preventive detention in a psychiatric institution as a security measure, which is prone to be the most invasive in the context of individual rights such as the right to liberty, right to privacy or prohibition of torture. Initially, the author attempts to define the notion of a "security measure" and present the main legal concepts regarding it. Subsequently, she moves on to present the current legal regulation of security measures in Polish penal law. Finally, the provisions of the Polish The Criminal Code regulating preventive detention in a psychiatric institution are being analyzed in the context of human rights standards provided by the Convention and elaborated in the case-law of the ECHR.