Harassment is a serious issue that can affect anyone. Texas law offers specific protections for those who experience this behavior. Understanding how the state addresses harassment is important for potential victims and for individuals seeking to avoid crossing legal boundaries. This article explains harassment under Texas law, your rights, and available steps if you are involved in such a situation.
Key Provisions in Texas Penal Code
Harassment is defined in Section 42.07 of the Texas Penal Code.1Texas Legislature Online. Texas Penal Code Section 42.07 – Harassment To be considered harassment, a person must act with the intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another. Accidental communications, even if bothersome, may not meet this legal standard.
Prohibited conduct includes:
- Initiating communication and making an obscene comment, request, suggestion, or proposal. “Obscene” refers to material depicting sexual conduct offensively and lacking serious value.2Texas Legislature Online. Texas Penal Code Section 43.21 – Definitions (Obscene)
- Threatening to inflict bodily injury or commit a felony against a person, their family, household, or property, in a way reasonably likely to alarm them.
- Conveying a false report that someone has died or suffered serious bodily injury, knowing it’s false and in a manner reasonably likely to alarm.
- Making repeated anonymous telephone communications, or allowing a phone under one’s control to be used for such acts, in a way likely to harass or offend.
Forms of Communication Covered
Harassing behavior can occur through various communication methods. This includes direct verbal exchanges, traditional written correspondence, and telephone communications, such as causing another’s phone to ring repeatedly or making repeated anonymous calls. The law also covers knowingly permitting a telephone under one’s control to be used for such acts.
Texas law also addresses electronic communications. It is illegal to send repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably likely to harass or cause similar distress. This also applies to anonymous, repeated, or continuous telephone calls or electronic communications if the recipient is harassed and either party is in Texas. “Electronic communication” includes:
- Messages sent via email, instant message, or network call
- Communications via cellular or other types of telephones
- Transmissions through computers or cameras
- Text messages
- Content on social media platforms or applications
- Information on Internet websites
- Any other Internet-based communication tools
- Facsimile machines
This definition includes posts on social media. Individuals who knowingly allow an electronic communications device they control to be used for these harassing purposes can also be held accountable.
Penalties
Engaging in harassment carries penalties that vary based on the offense’s specifics and the offender’s history. Harassment is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $2,000, jail confinement up to 180 days, or both.3Texas Legislature Online. Texas Penal Code Section 12.22 – Class B Misdemeanor Punishment
The offense can become a Class A misdemeanor if the person has a previous conviction for harassment or stalking. It also applies with certain prior convictions for offenses against the person or for violating a protective order, if the victim of that prior offense is the same person, or a family or household member of that person, as the victim of the current harassment. A Class A misdemeanor carries a potential fine up to $4,000, jail confinement up to one year, or both.4Texas Legislature Online. Texas Penal Code Section 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor Punishment
Harassment directed towards a child under 18, with the intent for the child to commit suicide or suffer serious bodily injury, becomes a state jail felony. This is punishable by state jail confinement for 180 days to two years and a possible fine up to $10,000.5Texas Legislature Online. Texas Penal Code Section 12.35 – State Jail Felony Punishment If conduct constituting harassment also violates another law, prosecution may occur under either or both laws.
Reporting Procedures
If you believe you are a victim of harassment, report it to local law enforcement, such as the police department where the harassment occurred or where you reside, or the county sheriff’s office for incidents in unincorporated areas.
When contacting law enforcement, provide a detailed account, including dates, times, locations, and the nature of the communication or conduct. Include specific words, threats, or actions by the alleged harasser, and their identity if known.
Making a report involves giving a statement to an officer. Law enforcement will then investigate, which may include contacting the alleged harasser and interviewing witnesses. You can help by preserving evidence like text messages, emails, voicemails, social media posts, or letters, and by keeping a log of incidents.
Stalking vs Harassment
Harassment and stalking are distinct offenses in Texas. Harassment, as outlined, focuses on specific communicative acts done with intent to harass, annoy, alarm, etc., such as obscene proposals or threats.
Stalking involves a more persistent pattern of behavior that causes fear. It occurs when a person, on more than one occasion, knowingly engages in conduct directed at another that they know or reasonably believe the other person will regard as threatening bodily injury or death to themselves, their family, household, or dating partner, or threatening property damage.6Texas Legislature Online. Texas Penal Code Section 42.072 – Stalking This conduct must cause the targeted person to feel harassed, annoyed, alarmed, abused, tormented, embarrassed, or offended, and would cause a reasonable person to fear such outcomes.
The main difference is that harassment can be a single communicative act, while stalking requires a repeated course of conduct. Stalking creates a credible threat, instilling fear of injury, death, or property damage, or causing significant emotional distress that a reasonable person would experience. This indicates a higher threshold of perceived danger.
Protective Orders
Individuals experiencing harassment in Texas can seek a protective order, a civil court order restricting the harasser. This helps create safety and boundaries.
A person victimized by harassment can apply for a protective order.7Texas Legislature Online. Family Code Chapter 82 – Applying for Protective Order Applications are filed in a civil court in the county where the applicant or respondent resides, or where the harassment occurred. The court must find that harassment, as legally defined, has occurred.
A protective order can impose several conditions. Commonly, it prohibits the respondent from communicating with the applicant or their family/household and from going near their residence, workplace, or school. An order can also prevent the respondent from possessing a firearm, unless they are a peace officer on duty.8Texas Legislature Online. Family Code Section 85.022 – Firearm Prohibition in Protective Order The judge sets specific terms based on the case.
A protective order is effective for two years if no other duration is stated.9Texas Legislature Online. Family Code Section 85.025 – Duration of Protective Order However, it may be effective for life if the court finds the respondent caused serious bodily injury, or if the respondent was subject to certain prior court orders and had two or more previous protective orders issued against them for the same applicant. An applicant can request an extension before the order expires if protection is still needed. Violating a protective order is a criminal offense.10Texas Legislature Online. Texas Penal Code Section 25.07 – Violation of Certain Court Orders