What is harassment?
What’s the difference between civil and criminal harassment?
What’s a restraining order and why would I get one?
How can I apply for a restraining order?
What is harassment?
Sometimes attention from another person can be unwanted and makes you feel uncomfortable, even if the person doesn’t mean to embarrass or harm you in any way. On the other hand, sometimes a person wants to frighten you for whatever reason. There is a law called the Harassment Act designed to help protect you from either sort of unwanted attention. Harassment is a pattern of behaviour directed at someone. A pattern of behaviour can be defined as a person doing any ‘specified act’ on at least two different occasions within a year.
Specified acts are:
- Watching, loitering near, or preventing or hindering access to or from, a person’s place of residence, business, employment, or any other place that the person goes to
- Following, stopping, or confronting that person
- Entering, or interfering with, property in that person’s possession
- Making contact with that person (by phone, email etc)
- Giving offensive material to that person, leaving it where it will be found by, given to, or brought to the attention of, that person
- Acting in any way that causes a person to fear for his or her safety, and would cause any reasonable person in the same situation to fear for his or her safety
What’s the difference between civil and criminal harassment?
There are two types of harassment. The main difference between the two is the intention of the harasser and the consequences for the offender.
| |
Civil harassment
|
Criminal harassment
|
| Harasser’s intention |
Not necessarily intended
to cause fear
|
Intention to cause fear
for safety
|
| Impact on victim |
Causing distress
|
Likely to cause fear for
safety
|
| Remedy |
Restraining order
(District Court)
|
Police prosecution
up to two years imprisonment
|
What’s a restraining order and why would I get one?
If you’re being harassed, then the District Court can order the harasser to stay away from you. This is called a restraining order. Its purpose is to try to keep you safe from any civil harassment in the future.
The restraining order means that your harasser can’t:
- Do or threaten to do any specified act to you
- Encourage another person to do any of those acts to you
This means your harasser can’t loiter around your house, call you, follow you, or any of the other specified acts.
You cannot get a restraining order against someone you are or have been in a domestic relationship with. In this case, you have to apply for a protection order (link: Family & Personal: Violence & Abuse: Other domestic abuse: how can I get a protection order?) under the Domestic Violence Act.
How can I apply for a restraining order?
You can apply to the
District Court for one. The Court will give you a restraining order if you can prove:
- You have been harassed
- The harassment has distressed you or threatened to cause distress
- Any reasonable person in your position would feel distressed
- The level of distress you feel justifies a restraining order
- You need a restraining order to protect you in the future
You can find an application for a
restraining order online.
You can also contact
your local CAB for more help.