On 1st April 2024 a new Hate Speech Act came into force in Scotland. The article is a political-criminal analysis of the Act, taking into account its political and social context. The author explains the concept of hate speech, outlines the main principles of the Act and the objections to it. Next, she analyses the Scottish police’s hate prosecution practices, including the recording of so-called Non-Crime Hate Incidents, the possible chilling effect of the Act and the stigmatisation of those accused of hate crimes. The circumstances of the adoption of the Act indicate that the Act will target specific groups in society. The author seeks to answer the question that arises in the context of the Act as to whether biological fact-finding will be able to be criminalized under the new Scottish Act. Finally, the author analyses the first days of the Act being into force.

The negative effects of hate crimes and the threats resulting from these acts justify the need to take effective actions to counter them and eliminate all their manifestations from society. The source literature notes the necessity to intensify efforts leading to more efficient detection, prosecution and penalisation of these crimes. In her article, Patrycja Kozłowska concentrates on the examination of the criminal policy in cases of hate crimes committed in Poland in 2008–2020. Selected court statistical data illustrating the number of convictions for hate crimes, the types of criminal penalties imposed on their perpetrators as well as the length of sentenced penalties of absolute deprivation of liberty have been analysed. Kozłowska also makes an attempt to capture differences in judicial practice becoming evident in the period under scrutiny.

This publication is devoted to the religious freedom of minors incarcerated in penitentiary isolation centers: the importance of religion for young people and the right to religious practices and services in post-criminal isolation centers in competition with the right to raise a child in accordance with one’s beliefs. Research conducted among minors and educators on religious practices in such centers, as well as the conclusions drawn from them, are also presented.