Penal Law § 490.20

Making a terroristic threat · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 490.20 Making a terroristic threat.

1. A person is guilty of making a terroristic threat when with intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping, he or she threatens to commit or cause to be committed a specified offense and thereby causes a reasonable expectation or fear of the imminent commission of such offense.

2. It shall be no defense to a prosecution pursuant to this section that the defendant did not have the intent or capability of committing the specified offense or that the threat was not made to a person who was a subject thereof.

Making a terroristic threat is a class D felony.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/490.20

In plain English

(1) A person makes a terroristic threat by threatening to commit or cause a specified offense, intending to intimidate or coerce civilians, influence government policy by intimidation or coercion, or affect government conduct through murder, assassination, or kidnapping, and thereby causing a reasonable expectation or fear that the offense is imminent. ★
(2) It is no defense that the person lacked the intent or ability to carry out the offense or that the threat was not made to its subject.

The offense is a class D 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.