Distress people in wrong (7)
I believe the answer is:
torment
'distress' is the definition.
(I know that torment is a type of distress)
'people in wrong' is the wordplay.
'people' becomes 'men' (men are people).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'wrong' becomes 'tort' (a civil wrong in law).
'men' inserted inside 'tort' is 'TORMENT'.
(Other definitions for torment that I've seen before include "Torture" , "Inflict pain on - pester" , "Badger" , "Punish" , "Persecute" .)