This field describes the type of threat involved in the situation you are adding to the database. The threat type will be obvious in most situations because only one of the options will apply to the situation at hand.

If you aren't sure, you should try to determine where the real “threat” lies in a given case. For example, following a threat letter the threatened party may file a lawsuit claiming that the sending party has acted improperly in sending the letter. Since the lawsuit is the receiving party's response to a threat, rather than a threat in itself, “Letter” would the appropriate threat type. Similarly, if a school suspends a student for making statements on her MySpace page, and the student and her family then file a lawsuit seeking a declaration that the school's action is unconstitutional, the threat is the "disciplinary action" (the suspension), not the student's lawsuit.

The choices for this field are:

• Lawsuit

Describes a situation in which formal legal proceedings have been instituted.  This most commonly will occur when a civil complaint has been filed in court; however, administrative and judicial proceedings also fall under this tag. Note that lawsuits may arise from threatening communication without necessarily constituting a threat themselves; this tag is only appropriate when the lawsuit itself constitutes a threat.

The lawsuit tag does not include criminal proceedings, which have their own tag as noted below.

• Subpoena

Describes a situation in which a subpoena has been issued.

• Correspondence

Describes a situation in which a letter, e-mail, fax, or other form of correspondence is sent, usually either as a threat or a request that the party cease and desist an activity.

• Criminal

Describes a situation involving criminal charges or a criminal investigation – for instance, a sheriff investigating criminal libel, or a conviction of a criminal offense. Criminal prosecutions, which might seem to fit within either the “Lawsuit” or “Criminal” threat types, should be tagged “Criminal.”

• Denial of Access

Describes a situation in which a party is denied access to government records, an event or a location, such as a sporting event, local government proceedings, or a court hearing.

• Disciplinary Action

This type of theat occurs when someone is disciplined by an authority figure. For instance, an employee fired for blog comments or a student suspended for writing a controversial column in an online student paper.

• Other

The other tag is used when the situation is not easily labeled with one of the other tags. Some examples are threatening blog comments and telephone calls. However, most situations should fit into one of the listed threat types.