Criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the second degree · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 490.50 Criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the
second degree.
A person is guilty of criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the second degree when he or she uses, deploys, releases, or causes to be used, deployed, or released, any chemical weapon or biological weapon, with intent to:
1. cause serious physical injury to, or the death of, another person; and
2. (a) intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(b) influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion; or
(c) to affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination, or kidnapping.
Criminal use of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in the second degree is a class A-II felony.
A person who uses, deploys, or releases (or causes to be used, deployed, or released) a chemical or biological weapon, intending both to seriously injure or kill another and to intimidate or coerce civilians, influence government policy by intimidation or coercion, or affect government conduct through murder, assassination, or kidnapping, commits second-degree criminal use, a class A-II 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.