What Counts as Criminal Harassment?

Rude or upsetting behavior is not automatically a crime. Criminal harassment laws target conduct that goes further, typically repeated, targeted and without any legitimate purpose.

Common elements

Most state harassment statutes require (Cornell LII):

• Conduct directed at a specific person
• Intent to harass, alarm, annoy or threaten
• A course of conduct (repeated acts), although some statutes cover single acts like a threat
• Conduct that would cause a reasonable person substantial emotional distress or fear

Examples that can qualify

• Repeated calls or messages after being told to stop
• Threats of violence
• Showing up repeatedly at someone's home or work
• Sending obscene or threatening messages
• Posting someone's private information to encourage others to harass them
• Using multiple accounts to contact someone who has blocked you

What usually is not criminal harassment

• A single argument or rude comment
• Speech about public issues, even if offensive, which the First Amendment protects; only narrow categories like true threats fall outside it (Cornell LII)
• Legitimate contact, such as a creditor's lawful collection letter (though debt collection has its own rules)

Harassment vs. stalking

Stalking usually involves a pattern that puts someone in reasonable fear for their safety or causes substantial emotional distress, and is punished more severely. Federal law makes interstate and online stalking a crime (18 U.S.C. 2261A). See stalking charges.

Penalties

Harassment is usually a misdemeanor punishable by fines, probation and jail of up to about a year. It can be a felony with threats of violence, a protective order in place, a hate crime element, or prior convictions.

If you are being harassed

1. Tell the person clearly, once, to stop contacting you, if it is safe.
2. Save evidence: screenshots with dates, call logs, voicemails, witnesses.
3. Report to police, and to platforms for online harassment.
4. Ask the court for a protective order; see how to get a restraining order.
5. False statements that damage your reputation may also support a defamation claim.

If you are accused

Stop all contact, preserve your own messages, and talk to a criminal defense lawyer before speaking to police.

Sources

1. Cornell Law School LII: Harassment
2. Cornell Law School LII: 18 U.S.C. 2261A, Stalking
3. Cornell Law School LII: True threats