In this article
What is meant by harassment, alarm and distress?
To understand what Section 4A of the Public Order Act entails, we first need to define what it means to cause harassment, alarm and distress:
- Harassment. Subjecting someone to unwanted conduct which is either related to a protected characteristic (race, sex, age etc.) or is of a sexual nature. The conduct has the purpose or effect of violating the victim’s dignity or creating an environment that is intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive.
- Alarm. Causing someone to feel afraid or anxious that something dangerous may happen to them.
- Distress. Making an individual feel genuine emotional disturbance or upset.
For an offence to occur, your actions must cause someone to feel one of these things.