Harassment Laws in Georgia: Stalking, Protective Orders, and Defenses

Harassment laws in Georgia are built around three overlapping criminal statutes: harassing communications under O.C.G.A. 16-11-39.1, stalking under O.C.G.A. 16-5-90, and aggravated stalking under O.C.G.A. 16-5-91. The first targets repeated unwanted electronic contact and is a misdemeanor. Stalking reaches a broader range of conduct, including in-person following and surveillance, and escalates to a felony on repeat offenses. Aggravated stalking is always a felony and applies when someone continues stalking behavior in violation of a court order. Victims can also seek protective orders through a separate civil track, and violating one of those orders is what most often turns a manageable case into serious prison exposure.

Harassing Communications

O.C.G.A. 16-11-39.1 makes it a crime to repeatedly contact another person by phone, email, text, or other electronic means for the purpose of harassing, threatening, or intimidating that person or their family. The statute also reaches anyone who knowingly allows a device under their control to be used for that purpose.¹

The offense is a misdemeanor.¹ Under Georgia’s general misdemeanor sentencing rules, that carries up to 12 months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.² The statute also states explicitly that it does not apply to constitutionally protected speech, a limitation that matters when the alleged conduct is closer to argument or advocacy than to threats.

Stalking

Stalking under O.C.G.A. 16-5-90 is broader. It covers following, placing under surveillance, or contacting another person without their consent for the purpose of harassing and intimidating them.³ Unlike harassing communications, stalking is not limited to electronic contact. Physically following someone, showing up at their workplace, or watching their home can all qualify.

A first stalking conviction is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.² A second or subsequent conviction is a felony carrying one to ten years in prison. At sentencing, the judge can also impose a permanent restraining order protecting the victim and their immediate family and require the defendant to undergo psychological treatment as a condition of the sentence or probation.³

Aggravated Stalking

Aggravated stalking under O.C.G.A. 16-5-91 applies when a person engages in stalking behavior while violating an existing court order. The qualifying orders include temporary protective orders, permanent restraining orders, bonds to keep the peace, and conditions of probation, parole, or pretrial release that prohibit the conduct.⁴

The charge is always a felony. A conviction carries one to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.⁴ A first-time misdemeanor situation can turn into felony exposure the moment an order is in place and the contact continues.

Protective Orders Victims Can Seek

Georgia offers two civil paths to a protective order, and which one applies depends on the relationship between the parties.

Stalking Protective Orders

Under O.C.G.A. 16-5-94, any adult alleging stalking can petition the court for a restraining order, and an adult can file on behalf of a minor. If the petition shows specific facts amounting to probable cause that stalking has occurred and could recur, the court can issue temporary relief immediately without a hearing.⁵

After a hearing, the court can enter a final order or approve a consent agreement. Available terms include ordering the respondent to stop the stalking, prohibiting harassment or interference, awarding costs and attorney’s fees, and requiring psychiatric or psychological treatment.⁵

Family Violence Protective Orders

When the conduct occurs within a family or domestic relationship, O.C.G.A. 19-13-3 provides broader relief. The petition is filed in superior court, and the court can grant temporary ex parte relief the same day on a showing of probable cause. A full hearing must be held within 10 days of filing, or no later than 30 days afterward.⁶

Beyond a no-contact directive, a family violence order can remove the respondent from a shared residence, award temporary custody and visitation, order child or spousal support, require counseling, and award attorney’s fees. These orders last up to one year, and on the petitioner’s motion after notice and a hearing, the court can extend them for up to three years or make them permanent.⁷

Why the Order Itself Raises the Stakes

Once any qualifying protective order is in place, any further stalking behavior triggers aggravated stalking under O.C.G.A. 16-5-91.⁴ The order does not just create the possibility of contempt. It converts a repeat contact into a felony charge carrying up to ten years.

Common Defenses

Defense strategy in a Georgia harassment or stalking case usually turns on one or more of three lines of attack, and which one fits depends on the charge and the facts.

Lack of Intent

Both the harassing communications and stalking statutes require that the defendant acted for the purpose of harassing or intimidating. Contact tied to a shared business matter, co-parenting arrangement, or a chance encounter does not meet that purpose. The state carries the burden on the intent element, and a credible non-harassing explanation for the contact can defeat the charge.

Challenging the Evidence

Harassment cases lean heavily on text messages, call logs, social media posts, and email records. The defense can challenge whether records are authentic, whether they have been selectively presented, and whether witness testimony matches what the electronic record actually shows. Gaps between a complainant’s account and the underlying data create reasonable doubt.

Constitutionally Protected Speech

The harassing communications statute contains a written carve-out for constitutionally protected speech.¹ Political commentary, criticism, and public advocacy can fall within it. Courts separate protected speech from harassment based on whether the communication is a genuine threat or serves no purpose beyond intimidation. The analysis is fact-intensive, but the limitation is real.

When Federal Charges Can Apply

Conduct that crosses state lines or uses interstate communication tools can bring federal charges alongside Georgia’s. Under 18 U.S.C. 2261A, it is a federal crime to use the mail, an interactive computer service, or any facility of interstate commerce to engage in a course of conduct that places someone in reasonable fear of death or serious injury, or causes substantial emotional distress to the person, their spouse, intimate partner, or immediate family.⁸

A related statute, 18 U.S.C. 875, covers threats transmitted through interstate communications. Transmitting a threat to injure another person carries up to five years in federal prison, rising to as much as twenty years when the threat is tied to extortion.⁹ Federal prosecutors typically enter the picture when the behavior spans multiple states or uses technology that makes state jurisdiction unclear.

Long-Term Consequences of a Conviction

Statutory penalties are not the end of the exposure. A harassment-related conviction in Georgia carries collateral consequences that follow a person for years.

Firearm Restrictions

Federal law bars anyone convicted of a qualifying misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing firearms or ammunition. The conviction qualifies if it involved the use or attempted use of physical force and the defendant was a current or former spouse, parent, co-parent, cohabiting partner, or someone in a dating relationship with the victim.¹⁰ The offense does not need to be labeled “domestic violence” if the underlying facts meet the federal definition.¹¹ Anyone subject to a qualifying domestic violence protective order faces the same restriction, without a conviction.

Not every harassment conviction triggers the firearms ban. A harassing communications conviction against an unrelated coworker would not meet the domestic relationship requirement. A stalking conviction involving a spouse or former partner very well could.

Employment and Professional Licensing

A harassment or stalking conviction shows up on a criminal background check even at the misdemeanor level. Fields that work with vulnerable populations, including healthcare, education, and childcare, often treat these offenses as disqualifying. Georgia’s professional licensing boards have discretion to deny, suspend, or revoke a license based on criminal history, and a pattern of harassing conduct is exactly the kind of issue those boards scrutinize.

Child Custody

Georgia courts decide custody by the best interests of the child, and a parent’s criminal record is part of that analysis. A harassment or stalking conviction involving a family member or partner weighs heavily against a parent seeking custody or unsupervised visitation. Even a family violence protective order, without a conviction, can shift the court’s view.

Civil Lawsuits by Victims

Criminal charges and protective orders are not the only avenues. A victim can bring a civil claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress in a separate proceeding. To succeed, the victim generally has to show the conduct was extreme and outrageous, that the defendant acted intentionally or recklessly, and that the victim suffered severe emotional distress as a result. Georgia courts set a high bar on the “extreme and outrageous” element, so ordinary insults and rudeness do not qualify, but a sustained pattern of targeted harassment often does. A successful claim can produce monetary damages for therapy costs, lost wages, and other documented harm.

A Note on Workplace Harassment

People searching for Georgia harassment laws sometimes mean workplace harassment based on race, sex, religion, age, disability, or another protected characteristic. That is a different legal framework. It falls under federal civil rights law, primarily Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and is handled through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rather than the criminal courts. The conduct becomes illegal when it is severe or pervasive enough that a reasonable person would find the environment intimidating, hostile, or abusive, or when tolerating it becomes a condition of keeping the job.¹² The standards, procedures, and remedies are entirely separate from the criminal statutes described above.

1
Justia. Georgia Code 16-11-39.1 – Harassing Communications; Venue; Separate Offenses; Impact on Free Speech
2
Justia. Georgia Code 17-10-3 – Punishment for Misdemeanors
3
Justia. Georgia Code 16-5-90 – Stalking; Psychological Evaluation
4
Justia. Georgia Code 16-5-91 – Aggravated Stalking
5
Georgia Secretary of State. O.C.G.A. 16-5-94 – Restraining Order
6
Justia. Georgia Code 19-13-3 – Petition Seeking Relief From Family Violence; Temporary Relief Ex Parte; Hearing
7
Georgia Secretary of State. O.C.G.A. 19-13-4 – Protective Order
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2261A – Stalking
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 875 – Interstate Communications
10
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Federal Firearms Prohibitions for Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence
11
United States Department of Justice. Criminal Resource Manual 1117 – Restrictions on the Possession of Firearms by Individuals Convicted of a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence
12
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Harassment