Penal Law § 15.10 · Article 15. Culpability
Requirements for criminal liability in general and for offenses of strict liability and mental culpability
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 15.10 Requirements for criminal liability in general and for offenses of strict liability and mental culpability.
The minimal requirement for criminal liability is the performance by a person of conduct which includes a voluntary act or the omission to perform an act which he is physically capable of performing. If such conduct is all that is required for commission of a particular offense, or if an offense or some material element thereof does not require a culpable mental state on the part of the actor, such offense is one of "strict liability." If a culpable mental state on the part of the actor is required with respect to every material element of an offense, such offense is one of "mental culpability."
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PEN15.10
- Text hash
- sha256 3e8d4a455f6c54cd728ab1bb393b7319edd35be8fa025396226730c06c213d6a
- 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.