Legal Question in Criminal Law in Kentucky

My daughter is 11. There is a girl, same age, who is staying with her grandmother that lives a few houses away from us. This girl comes across two yards and stands in the back yard that is adjacent to our back yard, where she where she yells insults and threats at my daughter. My daughter has always loved to play out in the back yard. Now she can't without getting harassed. Suffice it to say the offender child's family are not reasonable people that I could go talk to about the problem, so that option is out. I don't want my daughter's summer to be ruined because she is getting harassed and bullied in her own back yard. Is this considered bullying? Are the bullying laws just for school and internet? What options do I have in this matter? Thank you for your help.


Asked on 6/13/11, 6:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrea Welker Welker Law Office

I really want to advise you to take a big water hose and just spray that nasty child every time she misbehaves, but that would likely be frowned upon!

While the young girl is a minor, minors can still be charged with crimes (although mostly in juvenile court). If it were you shouting obscene things at a neighbor, they would probably call the police on you and have you charged with harassment, which is a misdemeanor offense. And if you were threatening your neighbor with bodily harm, the charge might be even greater. For a child to do the same things, it is really no different.

I'd say if you've taken every effort to resolve the matter with the child's family and the harassment is still continuing, you take some video or at least audio of the child's behavior and record what she's saying to your daughter, and take it to the county attorney's office. They will decide whether or not to prosecute. And if for some reason they won't prosecute, you can always hire an attorney to file a civil suit against them.

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Answered on 6/15/11, 10:10 am


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