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CPL 20.20 · Article 20. Geographical Jurisdiction of Offenses

Geographical jurisdiction of offenses; jurisdiction of state

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — Law content up to date as of October 2, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)

§ 20.20 Geographical jurisdiction of offenses; jurisdiction of state.

Except as otherwise provided in this section and section 20.30, a person may be convicted in the criminal courts of this state of an offense defined by the laws of this state, committed either by his own conduct or by the conduct of another for which he is legally accountable pursuant to section 20.00 of the penal law, when:

1. Conduct occurred within this state sufficient to establish:

(a) An element of such offense; or

(b) An attempt to commit such offense; or

(c) A conspiracy or criminal solicitation to commit such offense, or otherwise to establish the complicity of at least one of the persons liable therefor; provided that the jurisdiction accorded by this paragraph extends only to conviction of those persons whose conspiratorial or other conduct of complicity occurred within this state; or

2. Even though none of the conduct constituting such offense may have occurred within this state:

(a) The offense committed was a result offense and the result occurred within this state. If the offense was one of homicide, it is presumed that the result, namely the death of the victim, occurred within this state if the victim's body or a part thereof was found herein; or

(b) The statute defining the offense is designed to prevent the occurrence of a particular effect in this state and the conduct constituting the offense committed was performed with intent that it would have such effect herein; or

(c) The offense committed was an attempt to commit a crime within this state; or

(d) The offense committed was conspiracy to commit a crime within this state and an overt act in furtherance of such conspiracy occurred within this state; or

3. The offense committed was one of omission to perform within this state a duty imposed by the laws of this state. In such case, it is immaterial whether such person was within or outside this state at the time of the omission.

Source of truth

Edition
Law content up to date as of October 2, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
Official file
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/CPL20.20
Text hash
sha256 912d30e9015c1fcc61e7bf4ddc7ebd7dd2baaf2946de5d31ab7e806821629dcd
Composed by
gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.