Below you find laws pertaining to criminal harassment in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  

An Act Relative To The Crime of Criminal Harassment ( Chapter 164 of 2000, effective November 1, 2000) creates the crime of criminal harassment, G.L c. 265 § 43A, to punish harassing behavior that does not rise to the level of stalking ( G.L. c. 265   § 43) where the behavior does not include an overt threat. This law targets those who willfully and maliciously engage in a knowing pattern of conduct or series of acts over a period of time directed at a specific person. The law defines " conducts or acts" as including, but not limited to, conduct or acts conducted by mail, telephone, electronic mail, internet communications or facsimile communications. A defendant's conduct must:   A) seriously alarm the targeted person  B) rise to the level where it would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress. This crime is punishable by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 1/2 years of by a fine of not more than $1,000 of both fine and imprisonment. A second or subsequent offense is punishable by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 1/2 years or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 10 years. 

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