The Act Amending the Act - Penal Code and Certain Other Acts will come into force soon. The Act modifies, among other things, the provisions on judicial sentencing. Unfortunately, the change that introduces lists of mitigating and aggravating circumstances in the added paragraphs of Article 53 of the Penal Code is a regression of the Polish criminal law into the 19th century. Setting out the purposes of the penalty in the area of public impact, as well as the preventive purposes that it (punishment) should achieve in relation to the sentenced person is a throwback of the Polish criminal law to the era of real socialism.