What Is Harassment?

Harassment is a crime, however, how it is defined varies, so we really can't cover extreme details here that will be the case across the country, much less the world. But I will try to sum up common threads as I have found them.

One of the better definitions I have come across is something like this:

"Words, conduct or action, usually repeated or persistent that, being directed at a specific person, annoys, alarms, or causes substantial emotional distress in that person and serves no purpose."

With that definition comes the necessity to define each piece of that statement. Ambiguity being the main issue with this brief, sweeping statement.

In a democratic country such as the US (or the closest to democracy that is workable, anyway) what is actually considered harassment is much more than would be considered as harassment in more totalitarian societies where even speaking your opinion on some topics can be a punishable criminal offense under a very liberal definition of the above statement.

In the situations that this web site covers, it basically comes down to physical bullying, psychological harassment and hate speech or action due to race, religion or the like.

Much to our surprise and dismay a lot of things that are troubling, weird and annoying, are not harassment. Disturbing or bizarre behavior such as spying, eavesdropping, hiding behind trees, rocks and around corners watching like they can't be seen, are not actually considered harassment in and of itself. It's just a pain in the butt, and it's not illegal to be a jerk or be annoying.

That said, in conjunction with criminal behavior, such as physical or verbal bullying, assault, or other behavior intended to be intimidating is harassment, and can indicate mental illness in that person, and a possible threat to your well being.

In order to prove harassment and get any sort of an order against somebody you basically need to prove the harasser is a physical threat or otherwise seriously interfering with your quality of life outside of just being a jerk.

This can prove difficult if somebody is just smack-talkin you or your family, but not actually being threatening. Once threats get lobbed out there, or an actual assault, you THEN have grounds for some sort of a restraining order against them. That is not saying you will get it, but you have grounds to file for one.

In all honesty, I suggest, if all you have is a jerk, and you have no real incidents of physical assault, vandalism or serious verbal threats, don't even waste your time and money filing. It will just be a waste, and possibly only incite further problems if the order request is not upheld as some people take that as a license. That could gain you additional evidence for a later filing, but also losing some credibility as somebody who is litigious and just keeps filing clogging up the court and wasting time. The best advice would be to tough it out until you have some concrete evidence.