street harassment: know your rights
(4)
He or she engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts which alarm or seriously annoy such other person and which serve no legitimate purpose.
For example, following someone around a public place, making threats against someone, and/or touching or threatening to touch someone with the intent to cause the victim to be reasonably afraid of being physically harmed constitutes harassment in the second degree. The victim need not actually be touched or harmed by the harasser. The main difference between first and second degree harassment is that first degree harassment requires repeated instances of harassment while second degree harassment sometimes does not. There must be an intent to harass, annoy or alarm the victim to constitute
harassment in the first or second degree.
Harassment in the Second Degree is a violation which means that it is not a crime that appears on a criminal record. It is generally punishable by up to fifteen days in jail. (iii) Aggravated Harassment in the First Degree: §240.31 of the New York Penal Law provides:
A person is guilty of aggravated harassment in the first degree when with intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person, because of a belief or perception regarding such person’s…gender… or sexual orientation, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct, he or she:…Commits the crime of aggravated harassment in the second degree and has been previously convicted of the crime of aggravated harassment in the second degree for the commission of conduct proscribed by the provisions of subdivision three of § 240.30 or he has been previously convicted of the crime of aggravated harassment in the first degree within the preceding ten years… For example, a person that physically touches or threatens to touch someone with the intent to cause the victim to be reasonably afraid of being physically harmed because of a belief about the victim’s gender, age or sexual orientation, and has either been convicted of aggravated harassment in the second degree at any time in the past, or has already been convicted of aggravated harassment in the first degree within the last ten years, may be guilty of aggravated harassment in the first degree. Aggravated Harassment in the First Degree is a Class E felony which means that it appears on the offender’s criminal record. It is generally punishable by one to four years in jail or prison.
(iv) Aggravated Harassment in the second Degree: §240.30 of the New York Penal Law provides:
A person is guilty of aggravated harassment in the second degree when, with intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person, he or she:…
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