Harassment

Harassment can be a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the nature and circumstances of the offense. Harassment will be charged as a gross misdemeanor in most instances unless the defendant used words or acted in such a way that placed the victim in reasonable fear that the threat would be carried out. Gross misdemeanors are punishable by up to 364 days in jail and/or a maximum fine of $5,000.

On the other hand, harassment in Washington State will be charged as a class C felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine if any of the following apply:

• The person has previously been convicted of harassment of the same victim or members of the victim’s family or household or any person named in a no-contact or no-harassment order
• The person harasses another person by threatening to kill the person or any other person
• The person harasses a criminal justice participant who is performing their official duties
• The person harasses a criminal justice participant because of any action taken or decision they made during the performance of their official duties

With these penalties in mind, The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) defines harassment as a person who knowingly and without authority threatens to do the following:

• Cause bodily injury
• Cause damage to property
• Subject another to physical confinement
• Maliciously act with the intention to substantially harm someone

A person is also guilty of harassment in Washington state if they, by words or conduct, place the threatened person in reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out. Generally, the prosecution has the burden of proving the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt to convict a defendant of harassment:

• The accused knowingly and without authority threatened to cause bodily injury
• The accused knowingly and without authority threatened to cause damage to property
• The accused knowingly and without authority threatened to subject another to physical confinement
• The accused knowingly and without authority threatened to maliciously act with the intention to substantially harm someone

Further, the defendant’s words or conduct must have placed another in reasonable fear such threat(s) would be carried out.

For instance, if you yelled at someone saying, “I will kill you!” and reach for something in your bag thereafter, that person may be in reasonable fear that your threat will be carried out, particularly because they may assume you’re grabbing a gun, knife, or another deadly weapon from your bag. As we mentioned before, threatening to kill someone is considered a class C felony harassment offense in Washington State.

That said, harassment is a nuanced area of criminal law because it is subjective. Some people may feel threatened that a perpetrator will hurt them or harm their property under certain circumstances, but others will not under those same circumstances.

A harassment charge is a mere allegation. As noted above, there are specific requirements for a prosecuting agency to be able to prove a harassment charge. Specifically, the alleged victim’s fear that any threat would be carried out must have been reasonable

Take another example, perhaps. Let’s say you still have feelings for your ex-partner, and you resent them for ending the relationship. You leave notes on their windshield every so often, and those notes contain blackmail-like threats such as, “Sleep with one eye open tonight,” “Watch your back,” and “You will regret what you did to me.” Since you are lurking around your ex’s property (their house and vehicle) and leaving notes of this nature, they would have reason to believe that something bad could actually happen. You know where they live, and considering the circumstances of the breakup, they could reasonably believe that such threats could be carried out.

In this case, you could face gross misdemeanor charges or even felony charges if your notes amounted to death threats.

While most people associate Harassment as a repetitive behavior, such can, in fact, stem from a single alleged threat to another person. Such threats are not limited to face-to-face interactions. Rather, harassment charges result from communication via text, voicemail, and social media.