The crime against moral integrity is regulated in art. 173.1 of the Penal Code, which punishes anyone who subjects another person to degrading treatment, seriously undermining his or her moral integrity, with a prison sentence of 6 months to 2 years. The description of the criminal conduct set out in the Criminal Code is very broad, but the Courts have specified the elements that must be present for this crime to occur, which are as follows (STS no. 137/2008):

• A clear act of vexatious content for the victim.
• A physical or psychological suffering for the victim.
• The behavior is degrading or humiliating and seriously affects the victim’s dignity.

Apart from the basic offense, the same provision of the Criminal Code punishes with the same penalty two specific cases of harassment, understood as psychological harassment that humiliates the victim and affects his or her dignity, in which the acts carried out by the perpetrator do not constitute degrading treatment, but do violate the moral integrity of the victim:

1. Workplace harassment, which occurs when a person, within an employment or civil servant relationship and taking advantage of his or her relationship of superiority, repeatedly performs hostile or humiliating acts against the victim which, without constituting degrading treatment, constitute serious harassment. In any case, there must be a relationship of subordination between the victim and the perpetrator, so that acts of harassment between coworkers who occupy the same hierarchical position do not constitute this crime.
2. Real estate harassment, which punishes anyone who repeatedly performs hostile or humiliating acts against the victim that do not constitute degrading treatment and are intended to prevent the legitimate enjoyment of the dwelling.

Since the reform of the Criminal Code in 2022, legal entities may be criminally liable for this crime, being in this case the penalty to be imposed a fine of 6 months to 2 years. In addition to the fine, the Judges can apply the penalties of dissolution, suspension of activities, closure of premises, prohibition to carry out activities in the future, special disqualification to obtain subsidies and public aid and judicial intervention.