Poland

Poland regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Several public bodies are involved in monitoring and/or collecting data on hate crimes, primarily the police and the Prosecutor's Office. Hate crime data are regularly published.

There is a high degree of hate crime specialization in both police and prosecutor structures. More than 100 specialist hate crime prosecutors have been appointed, and a network of hate crime co-ordinators was established in the police in 2014. In 2015, following a request by the lower house of parliament, ODIHR provided a legislative review of proposed changes to the Criminal Code of Poland, including on hate crime provisions.

Poland has implemented ODIHR's Training Against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme since 2012. In 2018, the Ministry of the Interior, ODIHR and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency co-organized a workshop on understanding and improving hate crime recording and data collection based on ODIHR's Information Against Hate Crimes Toolkit (INFAHCT) programme. Poland also developed and piloted a methodology for conducting victimization surveys as part of ODIHR's project on "Building a Comprehensive Criminal Justice Response to Hate Crime". In 2019, ODIHR co-operated with the Commissioner for Human Rights in Poland to issue a report on the nature and scale of unreported hate crimes against members of selected communities in Poland.

SELECT YEAR

OFFICIAL DATA

Year	Hate crimes recorded by police	Prosecuted	Sentenced
2022	1,180	440	312
2021	997	466	339
2020	826	374	266
2019	972	432	597
2018	1117	397	315
2017	886	320	260
2016	874	281	236
2015	263	229	195
2014	778	179	127
2013	757	116	53
2012	266	76	39
2011	222	43	24
2010	251	30	28
2009	194	29	27

About 2011 Data

Figures include crimes of incitement to hatred.

Download official data

National developments

Poland continued with the implementation of ODIHR’s law-enforcement training programme on hate crimes, resulting in a total of 115 expert trainers on hate crime by the end of 2011. Local training sessions on hate crimes also continued, bringing the total number of police officers trained on hate crimes to 38,000. These also included the national launch and distribution to police officers of leaflets on hate crime and common hate symbols.

On the basis of an audit review concerning criminal cases based on racism or xenophobia, the Preparatory Proceedings Office of General Prosecutor’s Office conducted an analysis of hate crimes and outlined methodological guidelines for prosecutors who lead or supervise preparatory proceedings in hate crime cases. This analysis was sent to all appeals prosecutor’s offices with a request to further distribute it to subordinate prosecution units.

KEY OBSERVATION

No information is available.

INCIDENTS REPORTED BY OTHER SOURCES

Total Incidents
Targeted properties
Type of property attacks

Incidents reported by civil society, international organizations and the Holy See

Reports

Racist and xenophobic hate crime

Never Again reported one case of damage to property involving a car, and two cases of physical assault against football players of African descent.

Anti-Semitic hate crime

The Kantor Center reported one case of graffiti on a Holocaust memorial.

Anti-LGBTI hate crime

The Campaign Against Homophobia reported one case of homophobic graffiti on a car owned by a gay man; one threat against a woman at an LGBT event in Warsaw; four physical assaults, including two in a domestic setting, one on a tram, and one involving serious injury against a man leaving a gay-friendly club; and a series of assaults at gay pride events in Wroclaw, Łódź and Kraków involving physical assaults and objects being thrown at participants.