Crimes Explained: New York

New York criminal law in its official text, annotated. Each section is color-coded to show the prohibited act, the mental state the law requires, and the penalty, and references to other sections link to them. More of the Penal Law may follow.

• Select any section to open its own page with the official text beside a breakdown of each crime in it: the act, who can commit it when the law limits that, the mental state required, conditions, exceptions and defenses, the penalty with any conditions that change it, and other consequences. Breakdowns use only the text of that section. Section names are the official titles.
• In the official text, the prohibited act is highlighted in orange, the mental state the law requires (knowledge, intent, recklessness or negligence, such as intentionally or with intent to) in teal, conditions by their if or unless in purple italics, and the class of the offense in red.
• Dotted-underlined words are legal terms. Tap or hover to see what they mean.
• The colored bar on each card shows the class of the offense stated in that section (class A to E felony, class A or B misdemeanor, or violation). The sentence for each class is set in Penal Law Articles 70 and 80, which are not part of this set, so no prison term is shown here.
• Felony, misdemeanor or violation: a felony can be punished by more than one year in prison; a misdemeanor by up to one year; a violation by no more than fifteen days (general definitions from Penal Law section 10.00).