Penal Law § 135.50

Custodial interference in the first degree · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 135.50 Custodial interference in the first degree.

A person is guilty of custodial interference in the first degree when he commits the crime of custodial interference in the second degree:

1. With intent to permanently remove the victim from this state, he removes such person from the state; or

2. Under circumstances which expose the victim to a risk that his safety will be endangered or his health materially impaired.

It shall be an affirmative defense to a prosecution under subdivision one of this section that the victim had been abandoned or that the taking was necessary in an emergency to protect the victim because he has been subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse.

Custodial interference in the first degree is a class E felony.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/135.50

In plain English

A person commits first-degree custodial interference by committing second-degree custodial interference and:

(1) removing the victim from New York intending permanent removal; or
(2) acting under circumstances that risk endangering the victim’s safety or materially impairing health. ★

For (1), abandonment or an emergency need to protect the victim from actual or threatened mistreatment or abuse is an affirmative defense. The offense is a class E felony.

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 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.