CPL § 60.42

Rules of evidence; admissibility of evidence of victim's sexual conduct in sex offense cases · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 60.42 Rules of evidence; admissibility of evidence of victim's sexual

conduct in sex offense cases.

Evidence of a victim's sexual conduct shall not be admissible in a prosecution for an offense or an attempt to commit an offense defined in article one hundred thirty or in section 230.34 of the penal law unless such evidence:

1. proves or tends to prove specific instances of the victim's prior sexual conduct with the accused; or

2. proves or tends to prove that the victim has been convicted of an offense under section 230.00 of the penal law within three years prior to the sex offense which is the subject of the prosecution; or

3. rebuts evidence introduced by the people of the victim's failure to engage in vaginal sexual contact, oral sexual contact, anal sexual contact or sexual contact during a given period of time; or

4. rebuts evidence introduced by the people which proves or tends to prove that the accused is the cause of pregnancy or disease of the victim, or the source of semen found in the victim; or

5. is determined by the court after an offer of proof by the accused outside the hearing of the jury, or such hearing as the court may require, and a statement by the court of its findings of fact essential to its determination, to be relevant and admissible in the interests of justice.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/60.42

In plain English

In a prosecution for an offense or attempted offense under Penal Law article 130 or § 230.34, evidence of the victim’s sexual conduct is barred unless one of these exceptions applies:

(1) It concerns specific prior sexual conduct with the accused.
(2) It concerns the victim’s conviction under § 230.00 within 3 years before the charged sex offense.
(3) It rebuts the prosecution’s evidence that the victim did not engage in specified sexual contact during a given period.
(4) It rebuts prosecution evidence that the accused caused the victim’s pregnancy or disease or was the source of semen found in the victim.
(5) ★ After an offer of proof outside the jury’s hearing and any required hearing, the court finds the evidence relevant and admissible in the interests of justice and states the essential findings of fact.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 2 — The Court Officer: Criminal Procedure Law; Volume 2 — Your Career: Criminal Procedure in Plain English.