H. B. 2171
(By Delegate Boggs)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-2-9d, relating to
creating the criminal offense of harassment of a participant
of a neighborhood crime watch; defining terms; and providing
a criminal penalty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-2-9d, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-9d. Harassment of a participant of neighborhood crime watch
prohibited; definitions; penalty.
(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms and
phrases mean as follows:
(1) "Harass" means to engage in a course of conduct directed at a specific person which is intended to cause emotional distress
to the person while serving no legitimate purpose.
(2) "Organized neighborhood crime watch activity" means any
prearranged event, meeting, or other scheduled activity, or
neighborhood patrol, conducted by, or at the direction of a
neighborhood crime watch organization.
(b) No person may willfully harass, threaten, or intimidate an
identifiable member of a neighborhood crime watch organization
while the member is engaged in, or traveling to or from, an
organized neighborhood crime watch activity. Neither may any
person harass, threaten, or intimidate a member who is
participating in an ongoing criminal investigation, as confirmed by
the law-enforcement agency conducting the investigation.
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
confined in jail no more than ninety days, or fined not more than
five hundred dollars, or in the discretion of the court, confined
and fined.
NOTE: The purpose of this section is to create the criminal
offense of harassment of a participant of a neighborhood crime
watch. Toward this purpose, the bill defines applicable terms and
provides a criminal penalty.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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