What is the legal definition of harassment?
To get an injunction against harassment (“IAH”), you must show that the defendant has harassed you. For the purpose of an IAH, the law defines “harassment” as:
- two or more acts over any period of time that:
- is directed at a specific person;
- serves no legitimate purpose; and
- reasonably causes the victim to be seriously alarmed, annoyed or harassed;1 or
- one or more acts of sexual violence, which the law defines as committing one of the following acts even if there was no arrest or criminal prosecution:
- indecent exposure;
- public sexual indecency;
- sexual abuse;
- sexual conduct with a minor;
- sexual assault;
- unlawful sexual conduct by:
- an employee of the probation department, juvenile court, or state correctional institution;
- a peace officer;
- a behavioral health professional;
- molestation of a child;
- bestiality;
- continuous sexual abuse of a child;
- violent sexual assault;
- voyeurism;
- unlawful disclosure of images depicting states of nudity or specific sexual activities;
- sexual extortion;
- kidnapping but only if there is the intention to inflict death, physical injury, or a sexual offense on the victim, or to otherwise aid in the commission of a felony;
- sex trafficking;
- surreptitious photographing, videotaping, filming or digitally recording or viewing;
- taking child for the purpose of prostitution;
- commercial sexual exploitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, luring a minor for sexual exploitation, or aggravated luring a minor for sexual exploitation.2
Harassment may also include defamation against an employer, unlawful picketing, trespassory assembly, unlawful mass assembly, concerted interference with lawful business activity, and taking part in a secondary boycott.1
1 A.R.S. § 12-1809(T)
2 A.R.S. §§ 12-1809(T); 23-371(J)