Harassment and threats can be communicated via computers, cell phones and other electronic devices. These laws speak specifically to this form of stalking and bullying.
West Virginia Computer Crime and Abuse Act
§61-3C-14. Endangering public safety.
Any person who accesses a computer or computer network and knowingly, willfully and without authorization (a) interrupts or impairs the providing of services by any private or public utility; (b) interrupts or impairs the providing of any medical services; (c) interrupts or impairs the providing of services by any state, county or local government agency, public carrier or public communication service; or otherwise endangers public safety shall be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $50,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
§61-3C-14a. Obscene, anonymous, harassing and threatening communications by computer, cell phones and electronic communication devices; penalty.
- (a) It is unlawful for any person, with the intent to harass or abuse another person, to use a computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant or other electronic communication device to:
- Make contact with another without disclosing his or her identity with the intent to harass or abuse;
- Make contact with a person after being requested by the person to desist from contacting them;
- Threaten to commit a crime against any person or property; or
- Cause obscene material to be delivered or transmitted to a specific person after being requested to desist from sending such material.
- (b) For purposes of this section:
- “Electronic communication device” means and includes a telephone, wireless phone, computer, pager or any other electronic or wireless device which is capable of transmitting a document, image, voice, e-mail or text message using such device in an electronic, digital or analog form from one person or location so it may be viewed or received by another person or persons at other locations.
- “Use of a computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant or other electronic communication device” includes, but is not limited to, the transmission of text messages, electronic mail, photographs, videos, images or other nonvoice data by means of an electronic communication system, and includes the transmission of such data, documents, messages and images to another’s computer, e-mail account, mobile phone, personal digital assistant or other electronic communication device.
- “Obscene material” means material that:
- (A) An average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, is intended to appeal to the prurient interest, or is pandered to a prurient interest;
- (B) An average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, would find, depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexually explicit conduct consisting of an ultimate sexual act, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, an excretory function, masturbation, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or sadomasochistic sexual abuse; and
- (C) A reasonable person would find, taken as a whole, lacks literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
- (c) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly permit a computer, mobile phone or personal digital assistant or other electronic communication device under his or her control to be used for any purpose prohibited by this section.
- (d) Any offense committed under this section may be determined to have occurred at the place at which the contact originated or the place at which the contact was received or intended to be received.
- (e) Any person who violates a provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $500 or confined in jail not more than six months, or both fined and confined. For a second or subsequent offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined.
§61-3C-14b. Soliciting, etc. a minor via computer; soliciting a minor and traveling to engage the minor in prohibited sexual activity; penalties.
- (a) Any person over the age of eighteen, who knowingly uses a computer to solicit, entice, seduce or lure, or attempt to solicit, entice, seduce or lure, a minor known or believed to be at least four years younger than the person using the computer or a person he or she believes to be such a minor, to commit any illegal act proscribed by the provisions of article eight, eight-b, eight-c or eight-d of this chapter, or any felony offense under section four hundred one, article four, chapter sixty-a of this code, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than two nor more than ten years, or both.
- (b) Any person over the age of 18 who uses a computer in the manner proscribed by the provisions of subsection a of this section and who additionally engages in any overt act designed to bring himself or herself into the minor’s, or the person believed to be a minor’s, physical presence with the intent to engage in any sexual activity or conduct with such a minor that is prohibited by law, is guilty of a felony and shall be fined not more than $25,000 or imprisoned in a state correctional facility for a determinate sentence of not less than 5 nor more than 30 years, or both: Provided, that subsection a shall be deemed a lesser included offense to that created by this subsection.
§61-3C-14c. Cyberbullying or specific acts of electronic harassment of minors; definitions; penalties; exceptions
(Note: The West Virginia Computer Crime and Abuse Act was amended in 2018 to include this section relating to defining and establishing in West Virginia the crime of cyberbullying, imposing penalties, defining terms and establishing a criminal penalty. The section is also known as “Grace’s Law.)
- (a) It is unlawful for a person to knowingly and intentionally use a computer or computer network, as defined in §61-3C-3, to engage in conduct with the intent to harass, intimidate, or bully a minor, including, but not limited to:
- Posting, disseminating or encouraging others to post or disseminate private, personal, or sexual information pertaining to a minor on the Internet; or
- Posting obscene material, as defined in §61-3C-14a of this code, in a real or doctored image of a minor on the Internet.
- (b) For the purposes of this section:
- “Harass, intimidate or bully” means any intentional gesture, or any intentional electronic, written, verbal, or physical act, communication, transmission or threat that:
- (A) A reasonable person under the circumstances should know the act will have the effect of any one or more of the following: (i) Physically harming a minor; (ii) Damaging a minor’s property; (iii) Placing a minor in reasonable fear of harm to his or her person; or (iv) Placing a minor in reasonable fear of damage to his or her property; or
- (B) Is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, threatening, or emotionally abusive environment for a minor.
- “Minor” means an individual under the age of 18 years old.
- “Harass, intimidate or bully” means any intentional gesture, or any intentional electronic, written, verbal, or physical act, communication, transmission or threat that:
- (c) This section does not apply to a peaceful activity intended to: (i) Express a political view; or (ii) Provide information to others with no intent to harass, intimidate, or bully.
- (d) Any person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $500 or confined in jail for a period not to exceed one year, or both confined and fined.