New Penal Code allows burglars to be shot

"Formally, it is an amendment, but in reality it is a completely new Code," stated Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The new code increases the penalties for the most serious crimes and introduces the definitions of new crimes into the law, such as the preparations to commit murder. It also allows for those aged from 15 years old to be tried and punished as adults in many cases. The amendment grants more rights to the victims of crime and extends the scope of necessary defense, stating that persons who hurt the criminal while defending themselves after being attacked in their own premises shall not be subject to punishment. In other words you can shoot a burglar if he enters your home and attacks you. (Dziennik, p. 3; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 6) E.B.