Penal Law § 65.20 · Article 65. Sentences of Probation, Conditional Discharge and Unconditional Discharge
Sentence of unconditional discharge
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 65.20 Sentence of unconditional discharge.
1. Criteria. The court may impose a sentence of unconditional discharge in any case where it is authorized to impose a sentence of conditional discharge under section 65.05 if the court is of the opinion that no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant's release.
When a sentence of unconditional discharge is imposed for a felony, the court shall set forth in the record the reasons for its action.
2. Sentence. When the court imposes a sentence of unconditional discharge, the defendant shall be released with respect to the conviction for which the sentence is imposed without imprisonment, fine or probation supervision. A sentence of unconditional discharge is for all purposes a final judgment of conviction.
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/PEN65.20
- Text hash
- sha256 39d6501aba62aa13348dad8397c19d8e06748f7afd087858765d45febc0d583b
- 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.