Legal and criminological aspects of pharmaceutical crime

This paper is devoted to the phenomenon of pharmaceutical crime. It is said to be one of the biggest threats in the twenty-first century, not only for the life, health and property of individuals, but also for businesses, state institutions and the economy as a whole. This controversial issue is very complex and because of this the publication’s author chooses to focus on the legal and criminal aspects of the phenomenon. The author shares statistics about the scale of the problem in Poland. He also tries to define this crime in legal terms. He also raises issues around criminal responsibility which is regulated by several acts - Penal Code, Pharmaceutical Law and the Industrial Property Law. This paper presents a wide range of factors that have a major impact on emergence and development of pharmaceutical crime. In this paper, the elements of criminal prevention of this type of crime, both within Poland and internationally are addressed.