Indicator history

According to official statistics, the number of crimes committed in Poland with reference to race, nationality or ethnicity is small. It is believed, however, that a significant number of these acts may not be reported to law enforcement agencies or included in statistics. However, there are no alternative statistics to the official ones, showing the difference between racist incidents and crimes reported and the numbers of racist incidents and crimes recorded by police authorities. Experts suggest several reasons that lead to the underestimation of these statistics. These are: the present legislation (not all forms of racism are penalized), forms of collecting and processing of official statistics, improper statistical qualification of crimes by law enforcement officers (by leaving out the racial component), and the victims' failure to report incidents to such law enforcement agencies. These last two reasons are confirmed by qualitative research and indicated in reports of international institutions such as the ECRI. The most affected are people of African or Asian origin.

Sources:

ECRI report on Poland (forth monitoring cycle), 2010.

Agnieszka Mikulska, Rasizm w Polsce. Raport z badań wśród osób, które doświadczyły przemocy ze względu na swoje pochodzenie etniczne,  rasowe lub narodowe, Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka, Warszawa 2010.

W. Klaus, J. Frelak (eds), Metodologia przygotowania bazy danych do identyfikacji zjawisk o charakterze dyskryminacyjnym, ksenofobicznym czy rasistowski, Instytut Spraw Publicznych, Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej, Warsaw 2009.