Around half of Poles support the prime minister’s call for the return of the death penalty following the recent death of an eight-year-old boy at the hands of his stepfather, a poll has found. Those in favour of restoring capital punishment marginally outnumber those opposed to it.
The poll by United Surveys on behalf of the Wirtualna Polska news website asked: “Do you agree with the position of Prime Minister [Mateusz] Morawiecki, who said after the death of 8-year-old Kamil that ‘personally I am in favour of restoring the death penalty for the most brutal crimes’?”
It found that 48% agree with him (including 34% who say they strongly agree) while 46% disagree (including 35% who strongly disagree). Among supporters of the United Right (ZP) ruling camp, 76% agreed. Among opposition supporters, the figure was 32% while for undecided voters it was 48%.
O słowa @MorawieckiM ws. przywrócenia kary śmierci zapytaliśmy Polaków w najnowszym badaniu. Wyniki pokazują, że ze stanowiskiem premiera zgadza się 48,3 proc. ankietowanych, w tym aż 1/3 badanych jest bardzo przekonana co do przywrócenia kary śmierci. pic.twitter.com/2ZbF0fqtmx
— Wirtualna Polska (@wirtualnapolska) May 17, 2023
Morawiecki has long made clear his support for the death penalty. In January this year, he said that there should be a “rethink” of its “premature” abolition in the 1990s. He admitted that, though a practising Catholic, on this issue he disagrees with the church’s position.
Morawiecki also acknowledged that Poland is committed to maintaining its ban on capital punishment under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe.
Yet support for the death penalty has remained relatively high in Poland since its abolition in 1998. Between that year and 2004, support was consistently above 70%. That fell to 60% in 2011, the last year that state research agency CBOS conducted polling on capital punishment.
In 2020, an institute attached to the justice ministry conducted a survey of 5,000 members of the public on attitudes to punishment. It found 43% in favour of the death penalty with 41% opposed, reported the Rzeczpospolita daily.
Poland's PM has declared his support for the death penalty, saying there should be a "rethink" of its "premature" abolition in the 1990s.
He admits that, though a practising Catholic, on this issue he disagrees with the church’s position https://t.co/VhjmfyfJ0g
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 3, 2023
The death this month of eight-year-old Kamil has brought the issue back into the spotlight. He was hospitalised with burns and broken bones allegedly caused by his stepfather’s physical abuse and later died from those injuries. The stepfather and Kamil’s mother have been arrested.
After his death, a minister in Morawiecki’s chancellery, Michał Wójcik, declared that Kamil’s murderer “deserves the death penalty”, with the prime minister himself expressing the same opinion soon after.
Others, however, have argued that the government should instead focus on fixing failings in the system that allowed the abuse of Kamil to continue despite signs that it was taking place. Justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro has promised that those who failed in their duty to intervene will be held to account.
Thousands have attended the funeral of 8-year-old Kamil, who died from severe injuries inflicted by his stepfather, who has been arrested along with Kamil's mother.
The case has raised questions about whether the authorities could have intervened earlier https://t.co/2NVTRwXJfV
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 13, 2023
Main image credit: Maciek Skowronek / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
