Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree

Definition under New York law

PL 240.30 · Original statutory wording; excerpts must be read together with the full section.

§ 240.30 Aggravated harassment in the second degree. A person is guilty of aggravated harassment in the second degree when: 1. With intent to harass another person, the actor either: (a) communicates, anonymously or otherwise, by telephone, by computer or any other electronic means, or by mail, or by transmitting or delivering any other form of communication, a threat to cause physical harm to, or unlawful harm to the property of, such person, or a member of such person's same family or household as defined in subdivision one of section 530.11 of the criminal procedure law, and the actor knows or reasonably should know that such communication will cause such person to reasonably fear harm to such person's physical safety or property, or to the physical safety or property of a member of such person's same family or household; or (b) causes a communication to be initiated anonymously or otherwise, by telephone, by computer or any other electronic means, or by mail, or by transmitting or delivering any other form of communication, a threat to cause physical harm to, or unlawful harm to the property of, such person, a member of such person's same family or household as defined in subdivision one of section 530.11 of the criminal procedure law, and the actor knows or reasonably should know that such communication will cause such person to reasonably fear harm to such person's physical safety or property, or to the physical safety or property of a member of such person's same family or household; or 2. With intent to harass or threaten another person, he or she makes a telephone call, whether or not a conversation ensues, with no purpose of legitimate communication; or 3. With the intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person, he or she strikes, shoves, kicks, or otherwise subjects another person to physical contact, including removing a religious clothing article or headdress from such person, or attempts or threatens to do the same because of a belief or perception regarding such person's race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct; or 3-a. With the intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person, such person strikes, shoves, kicks, or otherwise subjects another person to physical contact, which includes spitting on such other person, and such other person is a train operator, ticket inspector, conductor, signalperson, bus operator, station agent, station cleaner, terminal cleaner, station customer assistant, traffic checker; person whose official duties include the sale or collection of tickets, passes, vouchers, or other revenue payment media for use on a train, bus, or ferry or the collection or handling of revenues therefrom; a person whose official duties include the maintenance, repair, inspection, troubleshooting, testing or cleaning of buses or ferries, a transit signal system, elevated or underground subway tracks, transit station structure, including fare equipment, escalators, elevators and other equipment necessary to passenger service, commuter rail tracks or stations, train yard, revenue train in passenger service, a ferry station, or a train or bus station or terminal; or a supervisor of such personnel, employed by any transit agency, authority or company, public or private, whose operation is authorized by New York state or any of its political subdivisions while such individual is performing an assigned duty; or 4. With the intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person, he or she strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects another person to physical contact thereby causing physical injury to such person or to a family or household member of such person as defined in section 530.11 of the criminal procedure law; or 5. He or she commits the crime of harassment in the first degree and has previously been convicted of the crime of harassment in the first degree as defined by section 240.25 of this article within the preceding ten years. Aggravated harassment in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.

In everyday language

This statute provides several alternative routes involving threatening communications, purposeless harassing or threatening calls, specified bias-based contact or attempts or threats, contact with covered transit workers on assigned duty, contact causing physical injury, or first-degree harassment with a qualifying prior conviction. Each route has its own requirements, and the prosecutor must prove the applicable route beyond a reasonable doubt rather than combine requirements from unrelated alternatives.

At a criminal trial, the prosecutor must prove every element of the charged subsection and that you committed the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. An accusation is not proof of guilt. Where the statute provides alternatives, the prosecutor need not prove every alternative; the charged theory matters. Affirmative defenses may have different proof rules.