Requirements for criminal liability in general and for offenses of strict liability and mental culpability · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 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."
The minimum for any criminal liability is conduct that includes a voluntary act, or a failure to do an act the person was physically able to do. An offense that needs nothing more, or that needs no mental state for some material element, is a strict liability offense. ★ One that requires a mental state for every material element is an offense of mental culpability.
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.
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.