ABSTRACT
This chapter brings to light the Polish context of a post-socialist, post-transformation society of peasant roots which greatly contributes to the comparative criminological scholarship. The findings of this study challenge the scope and viability of restorative justice and encourage examining its preconditions through lay people’s understandings of punishment and justice. This chapter is based on groundbreaking doctoral research in new and contested areas which applied in-depth interviews and focus groups to explore how 69 lay Polish people understand punishment and justice, and how their narratives inform the viability of restorative approaches in the Polish context. Lay Polish people shall be seen as Homo post-Sovieticus, whose perceptions of punishment and justice need to be analysed along with the legacy of the previous socialist system, the hasty transition from socialism to democracy and from a centrally planned to free-market economy. In this chapter I argue that the way lay people perceive the criminal justice processes and agencies might influence their understandings and receptiveness to restorative practices. In my research, low confidence in the criminal justice system and support for the involvement of lawyers was projected onto participants’ understandings of victim-offender mediation – something that should be considered as an obstacle to the development of restorative justice in the Polish context. However, work in the form of community service might indeed be of assistance to the possibility of restorative practice in Poland and other post-socialist countries, as it attracts significant support on the part of lay people and conveys the potential for restorative punishment.
