What Is Harassment Under Washington Law?

Harassment is a word people reach for whenever someone is being persistent, hostile, or upsetting, but Washington law treats it as two distinct things depending on whether you are seeking protection in civil court or the state is prosecuting a crime. Knowing the difference helps you take the right action for what you are actually facing in Snohomish County. The Law Office of Chad Foster helps Snohomish County clients with protection-order representation.

Two Kinds of Harassment, Two Different Purposes

Washington law recognizes both civil harassment and criminal harassment, and they are not the same. Civil harassment is about giving a person a way to obtain a court order that stops the behavior and requires the other person to stay away. Criminal harassment is about holding someone accountable for conduct the state considers a crime, which can lead to prosecution and penalties. The two run on separate tracks. You can pursue a civil antiharassment protection order whether or not criminal charges are ever filed, and a criminal case can move forward independently.

Understanding which framework applies matters because the definitions, the burden, and the outcomes differ. What counts as harassment for a protection order is broader than what counts as the crime of harassment. For related guidance, see Can I Get a Protection Order for Cyber Harassment.

Civil Unlawful Harassment: A Path to a Protection Order

For protection order purposes, Washington defines unlawful harassment in RCW 7.105.010, within the state's unified civil protection order law. There are two ways conduct can qualify. For related guidance, see Can I Get a Protection Order Against a Family Member.

The first is a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, harasses, or is detrimental to that person and that serves no legitimate or lawful purpose. The conduct must be the kind that would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and it must actually cause the petitioner substantial emotional distress. A "course of conduct" means a pattern, a series of acts over time, rather than a single isolated incident.

The second way is newer and important: a single act of violence or threat of violence directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, harasses, or is detrimental to them, serves no legitimate or lawful purpose, and would and does cause substantial emotional distress. But a single threat of violence only qualifies if it includes a malicious and intentional threat of the kind described in Washington's felony threats law, or the presence of a firearm or other weapon. In other words, ordinary rudeness or a one-time insult does not become unlawful harassment; the single-act route is reserved for genuine violence or serious, weapon-backed threats.

One consistent thread runs through the civil definition: the conduct must serve no legitimate or lawful purpose. Legitimate communication, lawful debt collection, constitutionally protected speech, and similar activity are not unlawful harassment simply because they are unwelcome. Courts look closely at whether there was any lawful reason behind the contact.

Criminal Harassment: When It Becomes a Crime

Criminal harassment is defined in RCW 9A.46.020, and it centers on threats rather than mere annoyance. Under that statute, a person is guilty of harassment if, without lawful authority, they knowingly threaten to cause bodily injury immediately or in the future to the person threatened or to someone else; to cause physical damage to another person's property; to subject the person to physical confinement or restraint; or maliciously to do any other act intended to substantially harm the person with respect to their physical or mental health or safety. Alongside the threat, the person's words or conduct must place the person threatened in reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out.

This is a narrower and more serious standard than the civil version. Criminal harassment is fundamentally about threats that create real fear, not about persistent unwanted contact by itself. The statute makes clear that these threats can be communicated in any form, including electronic communication, so a threatening text message or social media message can qualify.

Criminal harassment is generally a gross misdemeanor, but RCW 9A.46.020 raises it to a class C felony in certain situations, including when the person has a prior harassment conviction involving the same victim or a person named in a no-contact or no-harassment order, and when the threat is a threat to kill the person threatened or another person. A threat to kill, in particular, moves the offense into felony territory.

The Key Difference in Plain Terms

The clearest way to hold these apart is this. Civil unlawful harassment is aimed at stopping a pattern of alarming, distressing conduct that serves no legitimate purpose, and it gives you a protection order as the remedy. It can reach repeated behavior that is not itself a crime. Criminal harassment, by contrast, requires a threat that puts a person in reasonable fear it will be carried out, and it results in a criminal prosecution rather than a protection order. Some situations trigger both, but many situations fit one and not the other. A neighbor who repeatedly and pointlessly torments you might support a civil antiharassment order without meeting the criminal threat standard, while a single credible threat to harm you could support a criminal charge.

How This Plays Out in Snohomish County

Harassment questions often arise between neighbors, former partners, coworkers, and family members, and the right response depends on the facts. When harassment comes from a former spouse or partner, it frequently overlaps with family law and with the domestic violence and stalking provisions of the same protection order chapter, so it pays to look at the whole picture rather than one incident in isolation. Documenting the conduct, saving messages, and keeping a timeline all strengthen whatever path you choose.

If you are dealing with harassment and are not sure whether you are looking at a civil protection order, a criminal matter, or both, you do not have to figure it out alone. The Law Office of Chad Foster helps people in Snohomish County understand the difference and pursue the protection they need. Reach out to talk through your situation and your options.

If you are in immediate danger, call 911.