18 Pa.C.S. § 102

This is the official text of 18 Pa.C.S. § 102, part of Pennsylvania’s Pa.C.S — part of the compiled statutory law of Pennsylvania, published by the state as "Pa.C.S." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Territorial applicability.

Official statutory text

(a) General rule.--Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person may be convicted under the law of this Commonwealth of an offense committed by his own conduct or the conduct of another for which he is legally accountable if either:

(1) the conduct which is an element of the offense or the result which is such an element occurs within this Commonwealth;

(2) conduct occurring outside this Commonwealth is sufficient under the law of this Commonwealth to constitute an attempt to commit an offense within this Commonwealth;

(3) conduct occurring outside this Commonwealth is sufficient under the law of this Commonwealth to constitute a conspiracy to commit an offense within this Commonwealth and an overt act in furtherance of such conspiracy occurs within this Commonwealth;

(4) conduct occurring within this Commonwealth establishes complicity in the commission of, or an attempt, solicitation or conspiracy to commit, an offense in another jurisdiction which also is an offense under the law of this Commonwealth;

(5) the offense consists of the omission to perform a legal duty imposed by the law of this Commonwealth with respect to domicile, residence or a relationship to a person, thing or transaction in this Commonwealth; or

(6) the offense is based on a statute of this Commonwealth which expressly prohibits conduct outside this Commonwealth when the conduct bears a reasonable relation to a legitimate interest of this Commonwealth and the actor knows or should know that his conduct is likely to affect that interest.

(b) Exception.--Paragraph (a)(1) of this section does not apply when causing a particular result is an element of an offense and the result is caused by conduct occurring outside this Commonwealth which would not constitute an offense if the result had occurred there, unless the actor intentionally or knowingly caused the result within this Commonwealth.

(c) Homicide.--When the offense is homicide or homicide of an unborn child, either the death of the victim, including an unborn child, or the bodily impact causing death constitutes a "result" within the meaning of paragraph (a)(1) of this section, and if the body of a homicide victim, including an unborn child, is found within this Commonwealth, it is presumed that such result occurred within this Commonwealth.

(d) Air space.--This Commonwealth includes the land and water and the air space above such land and water with respect to which the Commonwealth has legislative jurisdiction. (Oct. 2, 1997, P.L.379, No.44, eff. 180 days) 1997 Amendment. Act 44 amended subsec. (c). Cross References. Section 102 is referred to in sections 910, 7602 of this title.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

Need a lawyer in Pennsylvania?

Find a Pennsylvania lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.