Rola ustawowych wskazań sądowego wymiaru kary w kontekście praw jednostki karanej

The aim of the article is to determine whether statutory indications of sentencing enable the court – and if they do, to what extent – to make the correct choice with regard to the type of sentence. The analysis leads to the conclusion that although the normative presence of the said regulations prevents the courts from exceeding their discretion, their practical usefulness is highly doubtful. An attempt to translate the meaning of the said provisions to the specific type of sentence turns out to be an extremely complex process. Additionally, there are controversies regarding empirically confirmed cases when during sentencing judges make reference to an informal penalty classification in the form of their personal knowledge or life and work experience.