Analysis of the Term of „committing” a Prohibited Act (Crime) in the Penal Code

The article is devoted to the concept of "committing" a prohibited act (crime) constituting the central concepts of the Penal Code . The choice of this topic is due to the fact that the word "commit" has not been adequately explained, apart from earlier studies, which is a sufficient reason to deepen this topic from the research perspective. It is not difficult to notice that defining the limits of the word "commit" will have a fundamental impact on the interpretation of the provisions of the Penal Code and the grounds for holding another person criminally responsible. Therefore, the study aims to determine what this "committing" is within the meaning of the Penal Code. The analysis is carried out from the linguistic interpretation of the word "commit", which does not give an unambiguous result, transferring the considerations to the ground of a legal interpretation consisting in supplementing it with the notions of "prohibited act" and "crime", which, taken together, only give it a statutory understanding. The article also points out that the legislator uses the word "to commit" in the Penal Code in various forms of time, which is of fundamental interpretation importance, because the words "commits", "committed" or "will" or "may commit" should be interpreted differently. which linguistically describe behaviors with different time points, which translates into the scope of application of the provisions that apply to them from the perspective of the time of committing a prohibited act within the meaning of Art. 6 1 of the Penal Code. The article highlights the difference between "committing a prohibited act" and "committing a crime". The author points out that the legislator inconsistently uses these terms, using the narrower concept of "committing a crime" in regulations that will also apply to "committed prohibited act", which may (but does not have to) be a crime. It is an undesirable procedure from the perspective of the so-called the terminological consequence of labeling the same behaviors with the same terms. It is also important from the perspective of the so-called presumption of innocence, as defined in art. 5 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to which the crime is only a legally judged act. The final part of the article is devoted to identifying specific behaviors that constitute "committing" a prohibited act (crime). Author includes both gradual and phenomenal forms of a prohibited act, which is not obvious at first glance, since the legislator in Art. 13 1 of the Penal Code and art. 16 1 of the Penal Code it relates the subjective side of the punishable preparation and attempts to "commit" a prohibited act, despite the fact that these behaviors in fact aim at the final, completed form of the crime.