systemic problems There is no commission which could refer to an appropriate facility in which therapeutic measure could be enforced; powers of such a committee, mode of operation and funding should be defined by statute When issuing a judgement about detention in a therapeutic institution for juveniles, a court has no obligation to apply for an opinion to a psychiatric committee, which is the same as in case of adults, with respect of whom a judgment of placement in a psychiatric hospital is rendered as a security measure148. In practice, a psychiatric commission to support judges in juvenile cases does not even exist. According to the hitherto findings of the Commissioner for Human Rights, the operation of such a commission was suspended not long after its establishment, which was the subject of the CHR’s intervention in 2008.149 As a consequence of the absence of such a commission, courts refer juveniles to such facilities only based on their own knowledge and experience, without consulting an expert body. Temporary placement of juveniles based on art. 26 of Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings act150 Placement under the above mentioned article takes place if the court deems it necessary in order to prevent demoralization. Measures provided in the article are applied during the proceedings (after they have commenced). The court may place a minor at once at a psychiatric hospital for the time of the proceedings. The court may also do this upon a motion of a manager of a correctional or foster institution151, in which the minor concerned has been placed temporarily. Judges follow such a procedure if proceedings are carried out to change a correctional measure to a therapeutic measure152. As a consequence of currently applicable legislation perpetrators of dangerous forbidden acts (e.g. manslaughter) can be accommodated at the same place as minors demonstrating demoralized behaviour (e.g. skipping school) and those subject to pre-trial proceedings which aim at determining whether they have committed a crime or whether they engage in demoralizing behaviour. At this stage it is also unknown for sure whether the minor requires psychiatric hospitalization, as prior to being placed temporarily in the psychiatric there is no obligation to ask for experts’ opinion. 148 149 150 151 152 Art. 201 of the Code of Enforcing Judgments in Criminal Cases clearly defines that a minister competent for health establishes a psychiatric commission for security measures. The Code defines the commission’s tasks, i.a. issuing opinions for competent courts or other authorised institutions concerning admission, release or transfer of perpetrators in respect of whom a preventive measure in the form of placement in a psychiatric hospital has been decided, analysing information about the number of places at psychiatric facilities dedicated for enforcement of security measures.; the Code also defines the principles of remunerating the committee members and reimbursement of their expenses. White Book. A Report on letter exchange and contacts between the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Minister of Health on observation of the citizens’ rights to healthcare in the period from 14 January 2006 to 30 April 2009, Warsaw 2009, p. 254. Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings Act of 26 October 1982 (consolidated text in Journal of Laws (Dz. U.) of 2018, item 969). Juvenile Hostel, Centre for socially unadjusted youth, foster home. These are situations in which minors who are placed in a centre for socially unadjusted youth or in a juvenile detention facility need more therapeutic than correctional actions (in practice these are minors who do not follow rules and regulations of the correctional centres). Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2019 61