The concept of restorative justice, which focuses on extinguishing the social conflict caused by criminal offense, has been received with growing interest on the part of both legislators and specialists in legal sciences throughout the world. This publication answers the question to what extent the classic model of criminal justice (including its fundamental principles and miscellany of penal measures) is able to meet the challenges posed by that concept. The doubts indicated in the study have been illustrated by normative provisions taken from Polish criminal legislation.