The aim of this article is to reconstruct the constitutional principle of proportionality, as expressed in Article 31(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, within the context of substantive criminal law, and to highlight the tension between this principle and criminal policy in practice. The author argues that although the principle should serve as a superior norm limiting the state’s interference with individual freedoms, it is systematically marginalized in the legislative reality. The analysis focuses on the decision-making mechanisms accompanying the process of criminalization, with particular emphasis on the phenomena of penal populism, public opinion pressure, and electoral logic. The article posits that in a democratic system, criminal law is increasingly used to serve short-term political goals at the expense of constitutionally required rationality and proportionality.