The Offence of Failure to Provide Assistance in the Anglo-Saxon and Continental Legal Systems (on the Example of the United States and Poland)
Czasopismo Prawa Karnego i Nauk Penalnych Rok XXVII: 2023, numer 1
Journal of Criminal Law and Penal Studies Volume XXVII: 2023, No. 1
Bartosz Łabuś – student kierunku prawo, Uniwersytet Jagielloński / law student, Jagiellonian University; ORCID: 0009-0004-6081-6068; e-mail: bartosz.labus13@gmail.com.
Full text in PDF (open access)
Keywords
failure to provide assistance, duty to rescue, good and bad Samaritan
Summary
The offence of failure to provide assistance to a person in peril is a crime that can be perpetrated by any offender’s omission. For this reason, it is necessary to precisely define the types of behaviours required under Article 162 of the Polish Criminal Code and the extent to which they should be undertaken. This text also discusses the axiological grounds behind the introduction of the legal obligation to provide assistance. This goal is done by means of comparative analysis, taking into account a set of legal regulations from the United States. In the US, as well as in the Anglo-Saxon legal system in general, the principle is that failure to provide assistance is not considered a crime.
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