New York Manslaughter Laws: Degrees, Sentences and DWI Deaths (2026)

New York does not have offenses named voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Its Penal Law grades homicide below murder by degree: manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law 125.20) is a class B felony that covers a death caused with intent to cause serious physical injury or an intentional killing under extreme emotional disturbance, and manslaughter in the second degree (125.15) is a class C felony that covers a reckless killing or intentionally causing or aiding a suicide.

Below those sit criminally negligent homicide (125.10, a class E felony), three offenses for the deaths of on-duty police and peace officers, and a separate ladder for deaths caused by impaired operation of a vehicle: vehicular manslaughter in the second degree (125.12, class D), vehicular manslaughter in the first degree (125.13, class C) and aggravated vehicular homicide (125.14, class B). Every one of these offenses is a felony. For how other states grade the same conduct, see our guide to manslaughter laws by state.

Information last verified on October 17, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers New York criminal statutes on homicide below murder: manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, the police and peace officer variants and the vehicular offenses in Penal Law article 125, the culpability definitions in Penal Law 15.05, and the felony sentencing rules in Penal Law 60.05, 65.00, 70.00, 70.02, 70.45, 80.00 and 485.10. It does not cover murder (see murder sentencing guidelines), self-defense and justification (see New York self-defense laws), civil lawsuits over a death (see New York wrongful death), or federal offenses (see the manslaughter laws hub).

What is manslaughter in New York?

Penal Law article 125 sets out these homicide offenses below murder, each defined by the mental state it requires:

• Manslaughter in the first degree (125.20): intent to cause serious physical injury, with death resulting; intent to kill, acting under extreme emotional disturbance; or an adult who, intending to cause physical injury to a child under 11, recklessly creates a grave risk of serious physical injury and causes the child's death.
• Manslaughter in the second degree (125.15): recklessly causing the death of another person, or intentionally causing or aiding another person to commit suicide.
• Criminally negligent homicide (125.10): causing the death of another person with criminal negligence.
• Vehicular manslaughter in the second degree (125.12), vehicular manslaughter in the first degree (125.13) and aggravated vehicular homicide (125.14): deaths caused by intoxicated or impaired operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, snowmobile or all terrain vehicle, graded up by listed aggravators.
• Aggravated manslaughter in the first degree (125.22), aggravated manslaughter in the second degree (125.21) and aggravated criminally negligent homicide (125.11): the same mental states as the base offenses, where the person killed is a police or peace officer.

If you have seen manslaughter described in first, second and third degrees elsewhere, our explainer on the differences between manslaughter degrees covers how those systems vary. New York stops at two degrees of manslaughter, with criminally negligent homicide below them.

New York manslaughter and homicide offenses at a glance

The determinate terms come from Penal Law 70.02(3), which governs the offenses on the violent felony lists in 70.02(1). The indeterminate maximums come from Penal Law 70.00(2), and under 70.00(3)(b) the minimum period for these classes is at least one year and no more than one-third of the maximum the court imposes. Our page on how New York sentences each felony class covers the class system beyond homicide.

Is manslaughter a felony in New York, and what is the sentence?

Yes. Every homicide offense below murder in article 125 that this page covers is a felony, from criminally negligent homicide (class E) up to manslaughter in the first degree and aggravated vehicular homicide (class B). How the prison term works depends on whether the offense is on the violent felony lists.

Violent felony offenses: determinate terms. Penal Law 70.02(1)(a) lists manslaughter in the first degree and aggravated manslaughter in the first degree as class B violent felony offenses, and 70.02(1)(b) lists aggravated criminally negligent homicide and aggravated manslaughter in the second degree as class C violent felony offenses. For these, 70.02(2)(a) provides:

"Except as provided in subdivision six of section 60.05, the sentence imposed upon a person who stands convicted of a class B or class C violent felony offense must be a determinate sentence of imprisonment which shall be in whole or half years."

Under 70.02(3), a determinate term for a class B violent felony "must be at least five years and must not exceed twenty-five years," with a range of 10 to 30 years for aggravated manslaughter in the first degree. A class C violent felony term must be at least 3 1/2 and not more than 15 years, except 7 to 20 years for aggravated manslaughter in the second degree and 3 1/2 to 20 years for aggravated criminally negligent homicide.

A determinate sentence under 70.02(3) for a class B or class C violent felony offense also carries a period of post-release supervision of 2 1/2 to 5 years (Penal Law 70.45(2)(f)).

Other homicide felonies: indeterminate terms. Manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide, both degrees of vehicular manslaughter and aggravated vehicular homicide do not appear on any of the violent felony lists in 70.02(1)(a) through (d). A prison sentence for them is indeterminate under Penal Law 70.00. The maximum "shall be at least three years" and is fixed by the court up to 25 years for a class B felony, 15 years for class C, 7 years for class D and 4 years for class E (70.00(2)). The minimum period is fixed by the court and "shall be not less than one year nor more than one-third of the maximum term imposed" (70.00(3)(b)). For a class D or E felony, 70.00(4) also allows a definite sentence of one year or less for a defendant who is not a second or persistent felony offender.

Attempts. The class C violent list in 70.02(1)(b) includes "an attempt to commit any of the class B felonies set forth in paragraph (a)," so an attempt to commit manslaughter in the first degree is a class C violent felony offense.

Fines. For any felony, Penal Law 80.00(1) allows a fine fixed by the court of up to the higher of $5,000 or double the defendant's gain from the crime.

Hate crimes. Manslaughter in the second degree under 125.15(1) and manslaughter in the first degree under 125.20(1), (2) and (4) are specified offenses under Penal Law 485.05, which makes a specified offense a hate crime when the defendant intentionally selects the person, or intentionally commits the act, in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct. A hate crime based on a class C offense is treated as one class higher (485.10(2)), and for a class B offense such as manslaughter in the first degree, a determinate sentence under 70.02 must be at least 8 years (485.10(3)(b)).

Probation. Penal Law 65.00(1)(a) lets a court sentence a person to probation upon conviction of any crime "except as otherwise required by section 60.04 or 60.05," and only where the court finds that confinement is or may not be necessary to protect the public, that the defendant needs guidance probation can provide, and that probation is consistent with the ends of justice. Penal Law 60.05(3) and (4) rule out probation for several of these offenses: every person convicted of a class B felony (manslaughter in the first degree, aggravated manslaughter in the first degree and aggravated vehicular homicide) and every person convicted of a class C violent felony offense (aggravated manslaughter in the second degree and aggravated criminally negligent homicide) must be sentenced to imprisonment.

Voluntary vs. involuntary manslaughter in New York

The Penal Law does not use the words voluntary or involuntary. Our guide to murder, homicide and manslaughter terms explains those general labels; in New York, the statutory offenses line up with them as follows.

• The voluntary-manslaughter equivalent is manslaughter in the first degree under 125.20(2): an intent to kill, carried out "under circumstances which do not constitute murder because he acts under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 125.25."
• The involuntary-manslaughter equivalents are manslaughter in the second degree under 125.15(1), for a person who "recklessly causes the death of another person," and criminally negligent homicide under 125.10, for a person who "with criminal negligence" causes a death.

Manslaughter in the first degree also reaches two killings that are not provocation cases at all: a death caused with intent to cause serious physical injury (125.20(1)), and the child-victim form in 125.20(4), which applies to a person "eighteen years old or more" who, "with intent to cause physical injury to a person less than eleven years old," recklessly engages in conduct that creates a grave risk of serious physical injury and thereby causes the child's death.

Extreme emotional disturbance: when murder becomes manslaughter

New York has no separate heat-of-passion offense. Its mitigation is extreme emotional disturbance, which the second-degree murder statute, Penal Law 125.25(1)(a), makes an affirmative defense to intentional murder in the second degree:

"The defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, manslaughter in the first degree or any other crime."

The manslaughter statute ties back to that definition. Under 125.20(2), "The fact that homicide was committed under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance constitutes a mitigating circumstance reducing murder to manslaughter in the first degree and need not be proved in any prosecution initiated under this subdivision."

Panic-defense bar (2019). Chapter 45 of the Laws of 2019 (Senate Bill S6573), signed June 30, 2019 and effective immediately, added Penal Law 125.25(1)(a)(ii):

"It shall not be a 'reasonable explanation or excuse' pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph when the defendant's conduct resulted from the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth"

The same act added that language to the aggravated murder and first-degree murder statutes (125.26(3)(a) and 125.27(2)(a)).

How the Court of Appeals reads the defense. In People v. Smith, 1 N.Y.3d 610 (2004), a memorandum decision, the Court of Appeals stated that a defendant "cannot establish an extreme emotional disturbance defense without evidence that he or she suffered from a mental infirmity not rising to the level of insanity at the time of the homicide, typically manifested by a loss of self-control" (quoting People v. Roche, 98 N.Y.2d 70, 75 (2002)). The court added that the defense "requires proof of a subjective element, that defendant acted under an extreme emotional disturbance, and an objective element, that there was a reasonable explanation or excuse for the emotional disturbance."

Self-defense and justification are a separate question from mitigation; see New York self-defense laws.

Reckless and criminally negligent killings

The difference between manslaughter in the second degree and criminally negligent homicide is the difference between two mental states that Penal Law 15.05 defines for the whole Penal Law. A person acts recklessly under 15.05(3) when he "is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists," where the disregard "constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation." The same subdivision adds: "A person who creates such a risk but is unaware thereof solely by reason of voluntary intoxication also acts recklessly with respect thereto."

Criminal negligence under 15.05(4) is failing to perceive the risk. A person acts with criminal negligence when he "fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists," and "the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation."

In short, awareness of the risk separates the two. A reckless killing is manslaughter in the second degree, a class C felony (125.15(1)). A criminally negligent killing is criminally negligent homicide, a class E felony (125.10).

Manslaughter in the second degree also covers a person who "intentionally causes or aids another person to commit suicide" (125.15(3)). Under 125.25(1)(b), causing or aiding a suicide without the use of duress or deception is an affirmative defense to intentional murder in the second degree, but it does not preclude a conviction of manslaughter in the second degree.

Vehicular manslaughter and DWI deaths in New York

New York treats deaths caused by intoxicated or impaired operation as their own three-step ladder in Penal Law article 125, built on the driving-while-intoxicated provisions of Vehicle and Traffic Law 1192. For DWI penalties when no one dies, see New York DUI laws.

Vehicular manslaughter in the second degree (class D)

Under Penal Law 125.12, a person commits vehicular manslaughter in the second degree when he or she causes the death of another person and either:

• operates a motor vehicle in violation of subdivision two, three, four or four-a of VTL 1192, or a vessel or public vessel in violation of the listed paragraphs of Navigation Law 49-a(2), and "as a result of such intoxication or impairment" operates it "in a manner that causes the death of such other person";
• operates a motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 18,000 pounds that contains flammable gas, radioactive materials or explosives in violation of VTL 1192(1), where that cargo "is the cause of such death," and as a result of the impairment by alcohol operates the vehicle in a manner that causes the death; or
• operates a snowmobile or an all terrain vehicle in violation of the listed intoxication provisions, with the same causation requirement.

The statute adds a rebuttable presumption. If the person "caused such death while unlawfully intoxicated or impaired by the use of alcohol or a drug," then "there shall be a rebuttable presumption that, as a result of such intoxication or impairment ... such person operated the motor vehicle, vessel, public vessel, snowmobile or all terrain vehicle in a manner that caused such death." Vehicular manslaughter in the second degree is a class D felony, with an indeterminate maximum of up to 7 years (70.00(2)(d)).

Vehicular manslaughter in the first degree and aggravated vehicular homicide

Vehicular manslaughter in the first degree (125.13, class C) is vehicular manslaughter in the second degree plus one listed aggravator. Aggravated vehicular homicide (125.14, class B) requires reckless driving as defined in VTL 1212, plus vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, plus one of its own listed aggravators. The two lists overlap but are not identical:

For the license aggravator, 125.13(2) covers a license or out-of-state driving privilege that is suspended or revoked, and a New York license or privilege suspended or revoked based on a refusal to submit to a chemical test or following a conviction under VTL 1192.

A prison sentence for vehicular manslaughter in the first degree has an indeterminate maximum of up to 15 years, and for aggravated vehicular homicide up to 25 years (70.00(2)(b), (c)). Neither offense, nor vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, is on the violent felony lists in 70.02(1).

DWI records and license consequences

A vehicular homicide conviction also counts in later DWI cases. Vehicle and Traffic Law 1193(1)(c) treats a prior conviction "of vehicular manslaughter in the second or first degree, as defined, respectively, in sections 125.12 and 125.13 and aggravated vehicular homicide as defined in section 125.14" within the preceding ten years as one of the prior convictions that makes the covered DWI offense a class E felony.

For the underlying DWI conviction, VTL 1193(2)(b) sets a minimum license revocation of six months for a conviction under subdivision two, three, four or four-a of section 1192, and one year for subdivision two-a. A conviction of homicide arising out of the operation of a motor vehicle, or of criminal negligence in its operation resulting in death, also requires revocation of the driver's license under VTL 510(2)(a)(i); no new license may issue for at least six months, or longer where the law specifies (510(6)(a)). Our New York DUI laws page covers DWI license rules in more detail.

Leaving the scene of an incident without stopping and reporting, where the personal injury results in death, is a class D felony under Vehicle and Traffic Law 600(2)(c)(ii), with a fine of $2,000 to $5,000 in addition to any other penalty; our New York hit-and-run laws page covers the duty to stop.

Deaths of police and peace officers

Three offenses raise the grade when the person killed is a police officer or peace officer. Each requires that the officer "was in the course of performing his or her official duties and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known that such victim was a police officer or peace officer."

• Aggravated manslaughter in the first degree (125.22, class B violent): intent to cause serious physical injury to, or (under extreme emotional disturbance) intent to kill, such an officer, causing the death of that officer or another police or peace officer. Determinate term of 10 to 30 years (70.02(3)(a)(ii)).
• Aggravated manslaughter in the second degree (125.21, class C violent): recklessly causing the death of such an officer. Determinate term of 7 to 20 years (70.02(3)(b)(i)).
• Aggravated criminally negligent homicide (125.11, class C violent): causing the death of such an officer with criminal negligence. Determinate term of 3 1/2 to 20 years (70.02(3)(b)(iii)).

Drug-related deaths

New York's manslaughter and negligent-homicide sections, Penal Law 125.10 through 125.22, contain no offense built on selling or distributing a drug that causes a death. A bill to add a drug-induced manslaughter offense to 125.15, known as Chelsey's Law (S2372), was referred to the Senate Codes Committee on January 7, 2026, and is not law.

Recent and pending changes

• 2019: Chapter 45 of the Laws of 2019 (S6573), signed June 30, 2019 and effective immediately, added the bar on treating a reaction to the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth as a reasonable explanation or excuse for extreme emotional disturbance.
• 2022: Chapter 688 of the Laws of 2022 amended 125.13(6) and added 125.13(7), the aggravator for causing the death of a child passenger 15 or under in a vessel operated in violation of Navigation Law 49-a(2)(e-1).
• September 1, 2027 (scheduled): The official text of Penal Law 70.02(2)(a) carries a version marked effective September 1, 2027, under which "the sentence imposed upon a person who stands convicted of a class B or class C violent felony offense must be an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment," with the maximum set under 70.02(3) and the minimum under 70.02(4). Until then, the determinate-sentence rule above applies. Penal Law 65.00 also carries text marked effective until that date.
• Pending, not law: As of October 2026, none of these 2025-2026 bills had passed: S7402/A5751 (Kane's Law, amending 125.12 through 125.14), S2372 (Chelsey's Law), S6425 (a new vehicular manslaughter in the third degree), S3301 (amending 125.13), and A3573 and S1042 (amending 125.20), each last referred to a Codes Committee of its house on January 7, 2026. S1041, defeated in the Senate Codes Committee on May 5, 2025, was referred to that committee again on January 7, 2026.

Federal law

Federal manslaughter under 18 U.S.C. 1112 applies within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, such as federal enclaves; the manslaughter laws hub covers it.

Related pages

• Manslaughter laws by state
• New York felony and misdemeanor classes
• New York DUI laws
• New York hit-and-run laws
• New Jersey manslaughter laws

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about New York law as of October 17, 2026. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in New York.

Last updated: October 17, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the sentence for manslaughter in the first degree in New York?

Manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law 125.20) is a class B violent felony offense. Penal Law 70.02(3)(a) sets a determinate prison term of at least 5 and not more than 25 years, Penal Law 60.05(3) requires a sentence of imprisonment, and a felony fine can reach the higher of $5,000 or double the defendant's gain from the crime (80.00(1)).

What is the sentence for manslaughter in the second degree in New York?

Manslaughter in the second degree (125.15) is a class C felony that does not appear on the violent felony offense lists in 70.02(1). A prison sentence is indeterminate: the court fixes a maximum of at least 3 and up to 15 years, and a minimum of at least 1 year and no more than one-third of that maximum (70.00(2)(c), 70.00(3)(b)).

What is the difference between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter in New York?

New York's Penal Law does not use those terms. An intentional killing under extreme emotional disturbance with a reasonable explanation or excuse is manslaughter in the first degree (125.20(2)); a reckless killing is manslaughter in the second degree (125.15(1)); and a criminally negligent killing is criminally negligent homicide (125.10).

What is vehicular manslaughter in New York?

Vehicular manslaughter in the second degree (125.12) is causing a death while operating a motor vehicle, vessel, snowmobile or all terrain vehicle in violation of the listed intoxicated- or impaired-operation laws, where the intoxication or impairment results in operation that causes the death. It is a class D felony, with an indeterminate maximum of up to 7 years (70.00(2)(d)).

What is aggravated vehicular homicide in New York?

Under Penal Law 125.14, it is reckless driving as defined in Vehicle and Traffic Law 1212 plus vehicular manslaughter in the second degree plus one listed aggravator, such as a blood alcohol content of .18 of one per centum or more, more than one death, or one death and serious physical injury to at least one other person. It is a class B felony, with an indeterminate maximum of up to 25 years (70.00(2)(b)), and Penal Law 60.05(3) requires a sentence of imprisonment for it.

What is criminally negligent homicide in New York?

Under Penal Law 125.10, a person who causes the death of another person with criminal negligence commits criminally negligent homicide, a class E felony. Criminal negligence means failing to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk, where the failure is a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe (15.05(4)).

Can murder be reduced to manslaughter in New York?

The Penal Law provides that a homicide committed under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, is a mitigating circumstance reducing murder to manslaughter in the first degree (125.20(2), 125.25(1)(a)). Since 2019, conduct that resulted from the discovery, knowledge or disclosure of the victim's sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sex assigned at birth cannot supply that explanation or excuse (125.25(1)(a)(ii)).

Is helping someone commit suicide manslaughter in New York?

Penal Law 125.15(3) makes it manslaughter in the second degree, a class C felony, when a person intentionally causes or aids another person to commit suicide.

Is manslaughter a violent felony in New York?

Manslaughter in the first degree and aggravated manslaughter in the first degree are class B violent felony offenses, and aggravated manslaughter in the second degree and aggravated criminally negligent homicide are class C violent felony offenses (70.02(1)). Manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide, both degrees of vehicular manslaughter and aggravated vehicular homicide do not appear on those lists.