Domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate in the second degree · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 490.27 Domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate in the second
degree.
A person is guilty of the crime of domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate in the second degree when, acting with the intent to cause the death of, or serious physical injury to, five or more other persons, in whole or in substantial part because of the perceived race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability, or sexual orientation of such other persons, regardless of whether that belief or perception is correct, he or she, as part of the same criminal transaction, attempts to cause the death of, or serious physical injury to, such five or more persons, provided that the victims are not participants in the criminal transaction.
Domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate in the second degree is a class A-I felony.
Intending to kill or seriously injure 5 or more people, substantially because of a listed perceived protected characteristic whether or not that perception is correct, and in one criminal transaction trying to kill or seriously injure those 5 or more nonparticipants is second-degree domestic terrorism motivated by hate, a class A-I 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.
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.