Public presentation of dead human fetuses as ill-mannered prank (Article 140 of the Polish Code of Petty Offences)

• Authors: Kulesza Jan

Title variants

PL

Publiczne prezentowanie zdjęć martwych płodów jako nieobyczajny wybryk (art. 140 Kodeksu wykroczeń)

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article makes an argument against the public display of colorful photos of bloody, dead human fetuses on streets, squares, parking lots or in front of the cemetery as part of the so-called pro-life demonstrations defending the right to life is an offense under Article 140 of the Polish Code of Petty Offences when they cause or may cause outrage with at least one individual as well as fall within the scope of Article 51 of that same act that safeguards public decency. Public decency protected by both of these provisions does not apply only to behaviors relating to the sexual or gender sphere but to any behavior visible to other people which may cause outrage, opposition, anger or condemnation. In Poland, pub-lic behavior norms do not allow for the imposition of photos of bloody human corpses on other random individuals. The availability of drastic content on the Internet does not justify the imposition of such content in a public space. In turn, the activity of television broadcasters is strictly regulated by law. Behavior of the so-called pro-life defenders also meets the definition of public indecency. Those people, knowing that such content is not being presented in public spaces, deliberately use it in breaking the social norm in order to bring attention to their views.

Keywords

EN

pro-life activity; freedom of speech; public morality; public order; criminal responsibility

• Publisher: Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN / Institute of Legal Studies PAN
• Journal: Studia Prawnicze
• Year: 2019
• Issue: 2 (218)
• Pages: 153-173

Contributors

author

Kulesza Jan

• Uniwersytet Łódzki,