NRS § 200.571 – “Harassment” – Nevada Law & Penalties

Under NRS § 200.571, the crime of harassment in Nevada is threatening to cause bodily injury, property damage, confinement, or substantial harm to another person. The threat must be communicated in a way that places the victim in reasonable fear that it will be carried out.

These threats do not have to be immediate to qualify as harassment: What is important is the threat itself, not when it may be carried out.

Examples

• Holding up your fist to someone who owes you money and saying, “This is what your wife will get if you don’t pay me back by tomorrow.”
• Leaving a voicemail with your neighbor threatening to throw paint on their house if they do not silence their dog, and texting a photo of the paint receipt.
• Bullying a co-worker you know suffers from depression by constantly telling them they are worthless

Keep reading to learn about Nevada harassment law and how our Las Vegas criminal defense lawyers may be able to help get your charges dismissed or reduced so your record stays clean.

• 1. “Harassment” Defined
• 2. Defenses
• 3. Penalties
• 4. Protection Orders
• 5. Civil Lawsuits
• 6. Harassing Election Workers
• 7. Additional Resources

1. “Harassment” Defined

Harassment is an extremely general Nevada crime that comprises many possible actions. Broadly speaking, to harass means knowingly to threaten someone else with harm so that person reasonably fears that the threat will be carried out.

For a prosecutor to convict you of harassment under NRS 200.571, the prosecutor has to prove one of the following “elements”:

• You knowingly threatened to cause bodily injury in the future to the person threatened or to any other person; or
• You knowingly threatened to cause physical damage to the property of another person; or
• You knowingly threatened to subject the person threatened or any other person to physical confinement or restraint; or
• You knowingly threatened to do any act which is intended to harm the person threatened substantially – or any other person – with respect to their physical or mental health or safety.

In order to be considered harassment in Clark County, the threats can be made by

• words or
• conduct.

The injury being threatened does not have to be immediate—threatening to do harm in the future may still be harassment.¹

Relation to Stalking

Although harassment is a separate offense from stalking (NRS 200.575), they are closely related because they both comprise behavior that causes another person to fear being harmed reasonably. The main difference is that:

• harassment is the direct threatening of harm through words or actions, whereas
• stalking usually involves trying to force contact with the victim against their will.

Note that “aggravated stalking” is threatening the victim with death or substantial bodily harm.

Depending on the case, defendants can be charged with both stalking and harassment.

Getting convicted for harassment can cause potential employers not to hire you.

2. Defenses

If you have been charged with harassment in Nevada, remember that you cannot be convicted unless the prosecutors prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you are guilty.

Since many of these cases have no hard evidence other than the accusations of the supposed victim, it is not uncommon for the D.A.s to ultimately dismiss the case or reduce it to a more minor charge. Some defenses we can explore using are the following:

• Your actions were in lawful self-defense, and any reasonable person in your position would have felt similarly threatened.
• The “victim” is lying about what you said or did.
• Your behavior did not rise to the level of harassment, and any fear the victim felt was unreasonable.
• You were acting under “lawful authority” (such as a security guard or police officer).
• Your actions fell under the constitutional protection of freedom of speech and assembly (the First Amendment).
• Any witnesses to the alleged harassment were not credible.
• You are a victim of mistaken identity, and someone other than you committed the harassment.

3. Penalties

The penalties a Clark County judge will impose for a harassment conviction depend upon whether you:

• committed harassment before,
• threatened substantial bodily harm, or
• used the internet to carry out the harassment.

Standard Penalties

A first offense of committing harassment is just a misdemeanor in Nevada, carrying the following sentence:

• up to 6 months in jail, and/or
• up to a $1,000 fine.

Any subsequent harassment offenses are charged as gross misdemeanors, which have double the maximum penalties:

• up to 364 days in jail, and/or
• up to a $2,000 fine.

Fear of Death or Substantial Bodily Harm

If the alleged harassment caused the “victim” to fear substantial bodily harm, then the D.A. may instead bring category B felony charges carrying a sentence of:

• 2 to 15 years imprisonment, and
• up to a $5,000 fine.

Online Harassment

If the threatening behavior transpired over the web, text messaging or similar online media, the harassment may be charged as a category C felony, which mandates:

• 1 to 5 years imprisonment, and
• maybe a $10,000 fine.²

Learn about Nevada’s cyber-stalking laws.

4. Protection Orders

In many Nevada harassment cases, a judge will require you to keep away from the alleged victim by imposing either:

• a temporary protective order (TPO) for 45 days or
• an extended protective order (EPO) for one year.

Deliberately violating one of these orders can carry harsher penalties than the harassment itself:

TPO’s are typically designed to protect against not only harassment but also stalking, domestic violence, sexual assault/rape or child abuse. Alleged victims can get TPOs without a court hearing; however, you need to be given an opportunity to appear in court in order for an EPO to be taken out against you.³

5. Civil Lawsuits

If the alleged harassment takes place as work, not only can your employer terminate you, but also you could face a civil lawsuit for creating a hostile work environment.

The judge cannot impose jail, though you could be forced to pay hefty monetary penalties. This is true even if the person you allegedly harassed did not leave their job or suffer any financial harm.

6. Harassing Election Workers

In 2023, a new Nevada law went into effect that made it a category E felony to harass election workers with the intent to interfere with their duties or to retaliate against them for performing their duties.

Unless you have two or more prior felony convictions, category E felonies carry a suspended prison sentence. Otherwise, the judge may impose a prison sentence of one to four years and a fine of up to $5,000.⁴

Additional Resources

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Where Do We Draw the Line between Harassment and Free Speech: An Analysis of Hunter Harassment Law – Animal Law.
• Identifying Stalking: The Relevance of Intent in Commonsense Reasoning – Law and Human Behavior.
• Unregulating Online Harassment – Denver University Law Review.
• Cyber Harassment: Its Forms and Perpetrators – Law Enforcement Technology.
• Hacking and Harassment—Do They Have Something in Common? Comparing Risk Factors for Online Victimization – Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.

Legal References