Practice Areas

Harassment is one of the most common issues of law, which is one of the reasons that it’s so difficult to deal with. Depending on your jurisdiction, the legal stance on harassment and the associated sanctions are usually pretty solid.

However, for them to work, an appropriate legal proceeding must be carried out for action to be taken against the defendant. What you may notice though, is that it may not be handled on the same kind of scale as another crime, such as aggravated assault or child luring.

Depending on the kind of behavior, it could be handled in a civil court, and the police may not necessarily even get involved. That rule is not absolute though, so the aim here is to give you a peek into what harassment looks like, so you can identify it and take the appropriate action.

First, as hard as it may be to say, the more minor forms of harassment may not be constituted as a crime at all. However, when it crosses certain lines, such as the demonstration of a clear intent to cause harm, inciting fear, or consistently and unfairly targeting someone, legal action could likely be taken.

Though workplace harassment is extremely common, people in your personal life could be the offenders too. For example, it’s very common for disgruntled ex-spouses to be the ones creating the problem.

Additionally, harassment can take on many forms. There is stalking, sexual harassment, threatening, etc. Harassment may go beyond the point of talk, seeing harm or damage being done to the victim’s person or property.

Depending on the extent of such an action, the charges laid against the defendant could be coupled with others, such as malicious destruction of property.

The general theme you’ve likely gotten up until now is that while identifiable, harassment is not always seen as a criminal offence. This is where the true challenge with prosecuting the crime lies. The spectrum of what constitutes mild to severe harassment is quite broad.

Something that may cause you mental anguish and you may conceptualize it as harassment may not necessarily be labeled that way in your jurisdiction.

Additionally, much of what falls under the harassment umbrella has been normalized in several contexts, such as workplaces. Therefore, you may be suffering without the realization that you probably have a harassment case on your hand.

Civil or criminal courts may handle harassment hearings, depending on the circumstances involved. Note, however, that it’s very common for these cases to be tackled in the civil court first and potentially move to the criminal court afterwards.

Most commonly, a civil order is handed down, and a violation results in it becoming a criminal matter.

It’s always a good idea to retain the services of an expert attorney to navigate this slippery slope. Even if not a criminal charge, your lawyer can potentially help you to file for some kind of a protective measure, such as a restraining order.

When it gets to the criminal stage, you can have adequate support to ensure that the defendant faces the full extent of the law.

On the flip side, you may be defending yourself against a harassment claim. If that describes you or a loved one, you could be drowning in hot water without adequate representation.

Reardless of which side of the coin you fall on, you are highly encouraged to seek out the services of the professional team at FMK Law Group as soon as possible.