Harassment – C.R.S. 18-9-111 is a subjective, vague law in Larimer and Boulder County. A simple accusation from an alleged victim is enough for a person to be charged with Harassment. Now, a new bill is under review which would add cyberbullying as a crime under the Harassment statute. Let’s take a closer look at Harassment, and the implications of adding cyberbullying to the statute:
Harassment: No Physical Violence Needed for a Conviction
All that is needed for someone to be convicted of Harassment is for someone to make accusations they felt alarmed, annoyed, or harassed by another person’s actions. These actions are defined in the Harassment statute, and include physical contact as well as non-physical contact. All that is required for a conviction is for a person to feel “threatened, harassed, or annoyed” by the actions of another person. As you can see, this is a subjective crime in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Estes Park – everyone feels threatened in different ways.
[pullquote align=”right” textalign=”right” width=”50%”]Harassment and cyberbullying are easily charged because they are subjective.[/pullquote]Cyberbullying and Harassment:
A new house bill (HB-14-1131) would make cyberbullying a crime. The proposed law would add this section to the Harassment statute:
“A person may not use an interactive computer service to engage in a course of conduct that inflicts serious emotional distress on a minor or places a minor in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury with the intent:
- To kill, injure, harass, or cause serious emotional distress to the minor; or
- To place the minor in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury.”
Potential Issues with the Cyberbullying Bill:
Whenever our government is looking at adding a new law, we need to stop and think for a moment. The general public’s reaction to a bill like cyberbullying is almost always unanimously positive. Who doesn’t want to “protect children?” Unfortunately, people don’t usually look at the other side very closely.
– Sentence for Proposed Cyberbullying Bill:
If the cyberbullying bill goes into effect, it would make this offense a class 2 misdemeanor. If the cyberbullying occurred with the “intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, or national origin,” it is a class 1 misdemeanor.
[pullquote align=”center” textalign=”center” width=”100%”]Whenever definitions are vague, innocent people go to jail.[/pullquote]– Subjective Definitions Lead to Innocent People Being Charged
The term “serious emotional distress” is subjective. The proposed bill goes on to say the alleged victim doesn’t need to prove they are “emotionally distressed.” The bill states: “A victim need not show that he or she received professional treatment of counseling to show that he or she suffered serious emotional distress.” Whenever definitions are vague, innocent people go to jail. Let’s say your son is being bullied at school. Day after day another boy gets in his face and demeans him. Your son isn’t confrontational, so he finds his tormentor’s social media account and posts something in retaliation. The bully finds this message “emotionally distressing.” Your son could face charges because he retaliated using a “computer service” instead of face to face. This just isn’t right. Crimes which are based on one person’s definition of emotional distress are muddy and dangerous.
– What About Free Speech?
We are on dangerous ground when we put limits on what people can and cannot say online. When we create laws which say: “You can’t say anything online which would make anyone feel threatened, annoyed, harassed, or alarmed,” you are limiting the freedom of speech.
Why You Need an Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney for Cyberbullying and Harassment Charges
Kids today are online more than they interact face to face. Between smart phones, texting, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and many more social networks, our kids are interacting almost non-stop. This interaction takes place between kids who don’t even know each other. This is dangerous. One child’s tolerance for snide comments or jokes is different from another child. If your child makes a comment on a social network which makes another kid “emotionally distressed,” your child could face criminal charges and be faced with possible jail time and a criminal record. We need to evaluate these new bills and think about the consequences.