What is the difference between harassment and stalking in Texas?
Harassment under Penal Code §42.07 is a single course of conduct aimed at annoying or alarming someone, and it is a Class B misdemeanor, rising to a Class A with a prior conviction. Stalking under §42.072 is the felony version: the same kind of conduct, but on more than one occasion, under the same scheme, directed at a specific person, and producing real fear or distress that a reasonable person would also feel. Stalking is a third degree felony, 2 to 10 years, and a second degree felony, 2 to 20 years, if the accused has a prior stalking conviction. The gap between the two charges is one repetition and one witness describing how they felt.
- Harassment covers obscene messages, threats, false reports of death or injury, repeated calls, repeated electronic messages, and tracking someone's car or property.
- Texas added tracking to the statute. Putting an AirTag or a phone tracking app on another person's property without consent is charged conduct.
- Stalking needs three things proved together: the conduct, the effect on the actual person, and that a reasonable person in their position would feel the same.
- A stalking allegation supports a protective order, and violating that order is a separate offense that is itself a felony when the violation is stalking.
- A stalking conviction can never be sealed. Gov't Code §411.074 excludes it from nondisclosure outright.
These cases are built almost entirely from screenshots, call logs, and a complainant's account of how messages made them feel. That makes them unusually winnable and unusually easy to charge, which is a dangerous combination. Peter M. Barrett has defended threat, family violence, and stalking cases in Dallas County since 1994, across more than 150 jury trials, and the case review is free and confidential. This guide explains both statutes, how one becomes the other, and where the defense is.
Harassment: the nine kinds of conduct
§42.07 requires a specific intent, to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another, plus one of the listed acts.
| Conduct under §42.07(a) | What it covers in practice |
|---|---|
| An obscene comment, request, suggestion, or proposal in a communication | Any channel, not only phone calls |
| A threat of bodily injury or a felony against the person, their family or household, or their property | Must be made in a manner reasonably likely to alarm the recipient |
| A knowingly false report of death or serious bodily injury | The fake emergency message |
| Repeated calls, or anonymous calls, likely to harass or alarm | The classic repeated calling provision |
| Calling and deliberately not hanging up | Holding the line open |
| Letting someone else use your phone to do any of this | Lending a handset is not a defense |
| Repeated electronic communications likely to harass or alarm | Texts, direct messages, email, app messages |
| Repeated posts on a website or social platform likely to cause emotional distress, abuse, or torment | Excluded where the communications concern a matter of public concern |
| Tracking or monitoring another person's property or vehicle without consent | A tracking app on their device, or a tracking device on their car |
Harassment is a Class B misdemeanor, up to 180 days in county jail. It becomes a Class A, up to a year, where the accused has a prior conviction under the section, or where the repeated electronic or online conduct was directed at a child under 18 with the intent that the child commit suicide or do themselves serious harm, or where the accused has already violated a cyberbullying restraining order.
Stalking: three elements, all required
- Conduct on more than one occasion, under the same scheme or course of conduct, directed at a specific person. One incident is not stalking, however serious. The State needs a pattern aimed at one target.
- The conduct is harassment under §42.07, or is something the accused knows or should know will be taken as threatening bodily injury or death to the person, to a member of their family or household, or to someone they are dating, or as a threat to their property.
- It actually had the effect, and a reasonable person would feel it too. The statute requires both that the complainant was placed in fear or felt harassed, terrified, intimidated, annoyed, alarmed, abused, tormented, embarrassed, or offended, and that a reasonable person in similar circumstances would react the same way. The second half is the objective check, and it is where many of these cases fall apart.
Stalking is a third degree felony, 2 to 10 years and a fine up to $10,000. It is a second degree felony, 2 to 20 years, where the accused has a previous stalking conviction, including a substantially similar conviction from another state, a tribe, or a US territory.
How these charges connect to protective orders
Stalking is one of the offenses that lets a victim, an adult acting for them, or the prosecutor apply for a protective order under article 7B.001. A court that finds reasonable grounds must issue one, and under article 7B.007 it can run for any stated period, up to the lifetimes of both people.
That creates a second layer of exposure. Once an order exists, contact that would otherwise be a misdemeanor becomes a violation under §25.07, and a violation committed by stalking is a third degree felony in its own right. The same conduct can therefore produce a stalking charge and a protective order violation charge at once. The protective order guide covers that side in detail.
What a conviction leaves behind
Stalking cannot be sealed. Gov't Code §411.074 excludes stalking, along with §25.07 and §25.072 violations and any offense involving family violence, from orders of nondisclosure. A felony conviction also ends firearm rights, and the word itself carries a weight with employers, landlords, and licensing bodies that few other felonies match. That is why the charge level, and whether the case resolves as harassment instead, is worth far more than the difference in the sentence suggests.
Where these cases are won
- Intent. Harassment requires the specific intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass. Messages sent to resolve a dispute, recover property, arrange to see a child, or get an answer are a different thing, and the surrounding thread usually shows it.
- The objective standard. Stalking fails unless a reasonable person in the complainant's position would have felt the same way. Hurt feelings, an acrimonious separation, and unwanted but harmless contact are argued hard against that standard.
- More than one occasion, same scheme. Separate unrelated incidents are not a course of conduct. Where the State strings together months of ordinary contact to manufacture a pattern, the pattern is the thing to attack.
- The whole record, not the screenshots. Complainants produce the messages that help them. The full thread, including what was sent back and who initiated each exchange, routinely changes the picture. Preserving it immediately is the first task.
- Matter of public concern. The online posting provision expressly does not reach communications made in connection with a matter of public concern, which is a real defense in disputes that spilled into public view.
- Charge level. Resolving a stalking allegation as harassment moves the case from a felony that can never be sealed to a misdemeanor that often can. That is usually the whole negotiation.
Common questions
Is stalking a felony in Texas?
Yes. Stalking under Penal Code §42.072 is a third degree felony carrying 2 to 10 years and a fine up to $10,000. It becomes a second degree felony, 2 to 20 years, if the accused has a prior stalking conviction, including a substantially similar conviction from another state, a federally recognized tribe, or a US territory. Harassment under §42.07 is the misdemeanor version.
How many messages does it take to be charged with harassment?
There is no fixed number. Several provisions turn on communications being repeated and sent in a manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, or alarm, which is a judgment the State makes and a jury reviews. A single obscene message, a single threat, or a single false report of death can be enough on its own under the other provisions.
Is putting a tracker on someone's car a crime in Texas?
Yes. Tracking or monitoring another person's personal property or motor vehicle without their effective consent, whether by a tracking device or a tracking application on their phone, is listed conduct under §42.07. If it is part of a repeated course of conduct directed at one person, it supports a stalking charge, and if a protective order is in force it is also a violation under §25.07.
Can I be charged if I never threatened anyone?
Yes. Neither statute requires a threat. Harassment reaches repeated calls, repeated electronic messages, online posts, and tracking. Stalking reaches conduct the complainant found harassing, terrifying, intimidating, annoying, alarming, abusive, tormenting, embarrassing, or offensive, provided a reasonable person would have felt the same. Intent and that reasonableness test are where the case is fought.
Can a stalking charge be reduced or sealed?
It can sometimes be reduced, and that is usually the goal, because stalking can never be sealed. Gov't Code §411.074 bars an order of nondisclosure for stalking outright. A resolution as harassment, a Class B or Class A misdemeanor, keeps sealing on the table in some postures and keeps the word off the record.
What should I do if I have been accused?
Stop all contact immediately, including through friends, and do not delete anything. Deleting messages looks like consciousness of guilt and destroys the context that usually helps. Export the full conversation history now, while it exists. The consultation is free and confidential: (214) 526-0555, answered 24/7 for emergencies.
The law this article describes, at the source.
This article is general legal information about Texas law, not legal advice about your case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change, so confirm the current rule with a licensed criminal defense attorney about your specific facts. Request a free, confidential case review.