Harassment Laws in Virginia: Penalties, Protective Orders, and Stalking

Harassment laws in Virginia are spread across several criminal statutes and one civil statute, and which one applies depends on how the harassment happened and who was involved. Unwanted calls and texts fall under one law; harassing emails and social media messages under another; written threats of death or injury under a third; and repeated conduct that makes someone fear for their safety is prosecuted as stalking. Workplace harassment is handled separately as a civil matter under the Virginia Human Rights Act. Penalties range from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 5 felony, and victims can seek protective orders that last from three days to two years or longer.

What Counts as Criminal Harassment

Phone Calls and Text Messages

Virginia Code § 18.2-427 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to use obscene, threatening, or indecent language over a telephone or citizens band radio with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass another person. The statute’s definition of “telephone” reaches beyond voice calls. It covers any electronically transmitted communication that produces a visual or electronic message on a cell phone or wireless device, so harassing text messages are prosecuted under this section.¹

Intent is the element prosecutors have to prove. The sender must have acted specifically to coerce, intimidate, or harass. Speech that the recipient found rude or upsetting is not enough on its own.

Email, Social Media, and Other Computer Messages

Harassment sent through a computer or computer network is a separate Class 1 misdemeanor under Virginia Code § 18.2-152.7:1. The statute covers obscene, threatening, or indecent messages sent with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass.²

The overlap with the telephone statute is deliberate. A harassing message sent from a phone falls under § 18.2-427; the same message sent through a messaging app on a laptop falls under § 18.2-152.7:1. Together they close off any platform-based loophole. Both statutes require the same specific intent to harass.

Written Threats of Death or Bodily Injury

A written threat to kill or physically harm someone is treated more seriously. Under Virginia Code § 18.2-60, any written communication — including email, text, or social media post — that would place the target or a member of their family in reasonable fear of death or bodily injury is a Class 6 felony. The offense is complete once the threat is sent, even if the intended victim never sees it.³

Two subcategories carry heightened treatment. Threatening to kill someone or to discharge a firearm at a school or school event is also a Class 6 felony. An adult who makes written threats intended to intimidate a civilian population, influence government conduct, or force the evacuation of a public place faces a Class 5 felony.³

Stalking

Stalking is prosecuted under Virginia Code § 18.2-60.3. A person commits stalking when they engage in conduct on more than one occasion that is intended to place, or that they know or reasonably should know will place, another person in reasonable fear of death, sexual assault, or bodily injury. The statute also protects members of that person’s family and household.⁴

Two features shape how the law is applied. The conduct has to happen more than once, so a single frightening encounter does not meet the threshold on its own. And the “reasonable person” standard means courts ask whether an average person in the victim’s position would have felt genuine fear. Following someone, showing up uninvited at their home or workplace, and monitoring their movements are the kinds of repeated behavior that usually satisfy the elements. The statute carves out exceptions for law enforcement officers acting in an official capacity and for licensed private investigators conducting legitimate business.⁵

Penalties

A first offense under the phone harassment statute, the computer harassment statute, or the stalking statute is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The maximum punishment is 12 months in jail, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.⁶

A second stalking conviction within five years of a prior stalking conviction is elevated to a Class 6 felony.⁴ A Class 6 felony carries a prison sentence of one to five years, but the judge or jury has discretion to impose up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 instead.⁷ The outcome for a second stalking offense can therefore range from probation to five years in prison.

Written threats of death or bodily injury start at the Class 6 felony level on a first offense. If the threat is made to intimidate a civilian population or force the evacuation of a public place, the offense rises to a Class 5 felony.³

Violating a protective order issued in a stalking or harassment case is punished under Virginia Code § 18.2-60.4. A first violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor. A second violation within five years, where either offense involved violence or threats of violence, carries a mandatory minimum of 60 days in jail. A third violation within 20 years under the same conditions is a Class 6 felony with a mandatory minimum of six months. Certain aggravators push the violation straight to a Class 6 felony regardless of prior history: being armed with a firearm or deadly weapon, committing an assault causing bodily injury to the protected person, stalking the protected person, or furtively entering the protected person’s home.⁸

Protective Orders

Virginia offers protection in stages, and knowing the difference matters because each level has its own duration and process.

Emergency Protective Orders

An emergency protective order can be issued by any judge or magistrate at any time, day or night. A law enforcement officer can request one on the victim’s behalf. The officer or victim must assert under oath that the person has been subjected to an act of violence, force, or threat, and the judge must find probable danger of further harm.⁹ These orders can prohibit contact and impose other safety conditions. They expire at 11:59 p.m. on the third day after issuance, or on the next business day if the court is not in session when the order would otherwise expire.

Full Protective Orders

For longer-term protection, Virginia Code § 19.2-152.10 allows courts to issue protective orders lasting up to two years. These are issued after a criminal petition or warrant is filed or after a hearing. The conditions may include prohibiting all contact with the victim and their family and any other restrictions the court considers necessary to prevent violence or unwanted communication. If the respondent is convicted of a violent crime, the court can extend the order for any reasonable period, including for the defendant’s lifetime.¹⁰

No fees are charged for filing or serving protective order petitions in stalking and harassment cases.¹⁰

Workplace Harassment

Workplace harassment is handled as a civil matter, not a criminal one, under the Virginia Human Rights Act. The law protects employees from harassment based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation), age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and military status.¹¹ Ethnicity was added as a protected class in 2024.

For most discrimination claims, the VHRA covers employers with 15 or more employees. Wrongful discharge claims based on most protected classes apply to employers with more than five employees.¹¹

A hostile work environment claim requires showing that harassment was severe or frequent enough to create an intimidating or offensive atmosphere that altered the conditions of employment. Isolated comments or minor slights generally do not qualify. Employers face liability when they knew or should have known about the harassment and failed to act. Sexual harassment falls within these protections and takes two forms: quid pro quo, where a supervisor conditions job benefits on sexual favors, and hostile work environment based on sex, where sexually charged comments, unwanted physical contact, or similar conduct create a pervasive atmosphere of discomfort. Saved messages, emails, contemporaneous notes, and witness testimony are what typically establish both the conduct and its impact.

Filing a Complaint

Before filing a harassment lawsuit, you have to complete an administrative step. Complaints go first to the Office of Civil Rights within the Virginia Department of Law, headed by the Attorney General.¹² Once you receive a notice of your right to file a civil action from that office, or from the EEOC if you filed federally, you have 90 days to file a lawsuit in circuit or general district court. If 180 days pass from the date you filed the complaint and no right-to-sue notice has issued, you can file suit without one.¹³ Missing the 90-day window after receiving the notice is a common and often permanent bar to the claim.

A court or jury that finds unlawful discrimination can award compensatory and punitive damages, and the court may order attorney fees, injunctive relief, reinstatement, or back pay.¹³ The VHRA does not impose the federal statutory cap on combined compensatory and punitive damages, which is one reason employees at larger companies sometimes prefer the state-law path.

When Federal Law Also Applies

Some harassment falls under federal law in addition to Virginia’s statutes. Workplace claims can be filed with the EEOC under Title VII, and because Virginia has a state agency that enforces anti-discrimination law, the federal filing deadline is 300 calendar days from the last incident of harassment.¹⁴

When harassment crosses state lines, federal criminal law can also apply. Under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A, it is a federal crime to use the mail, the internet, or any other facility of interstate commerce to engage in a course of conduct that places someone in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury, or that causes substantial emotional distress. Sending interstate threats to kidnap or injure a person can carry up to five years in federal prison, and threats made with extortion intent carry up to 20 years.¹⁵

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-427 – Use of Profane, Threatening, or Indecent Language over Public Airways or by Other Methods
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-152.7:1 – Harassment by Computer; Penalty
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-60 – Threats of Death or Bodily Injury to a Person
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-60.3 – Stalking; Penalty
5
Legal Information Institute. Virginia Code 18.2-60.3 – Stalking; Penalty
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-11 – Punishment for Conviction of Misdemeanor
7
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-10 – Punishment for Conviction of Felony; Penalty
8
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-60.4 – Violation of Protective Orders; Penalty
9
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 19.2-152.8 – Emergency Protective Orders Authorized
10
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 19.2-152.10 – Protective Order
11
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Chapter 39 – Virginia Human Rights Act
12
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 2.2-520 – Office of Civil Rights Created; Duties
13
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 2.2-3908 – Civil Actions by Private Parties
14
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 875 – Interstate Communications