Hazing is often portrayed in pop culture as a harmless tradition. The reality can be much darker – but does hazing ever become a crime?
When hazing endangers someone’s physical or emotional well-being, everyone involved can be exposed to serious legal consequences. New Jersey addresses hazing in its criminal code. Prosecutors can file criminal charges when someone is injured or placed at risk. Those accused can face severe penalties, including jail time, heavy fines, and other long-term consequences, even if they never intended to cause harm.
If you or someone you love has been charged with hazing, you need clear, practical guidance about what the term means under the law, what the state must prove to secure a conviction, and how a strong defense can make a difference.
What Is Hazing?
You’ve probably seen hazing depicted in movies and on television, even if you’ve never experienced hazing rituals yourself. Generally, hazing is any conduct that endangers someone’s mental or physical health or safety to initiate them into an organization. This means putting someone through dangerous, humiliating, or harmful activities as part of joining a team, fraternity, sorority, club, or other social group.
Examples of hazing can include:
- Forcing someone to drink excessive amounts of alcohol or consume harmful substances
- Causing physical abuse or forced exercise
- Public humiliation
- Risky stunts or pranks that can lead to injury
Even if the activity seems like a joke or tradition, it can cross the line into hazing when it puts someone in danger or causes serious emotional distress.
New Jersey defines hazing broadly. Even small actions can qualify if they put someone at risk of harm. More importantly, hazing is illegal whether the victim agreed to participate or not. That means excuses like “they agreed to do it” or “they weren’t forced” will not hold up as a legal defense.
Hazing vs. Aggravated Hazing
Hazing and aggravated hazing both involve dangerous conduct that targets new or prospective members of a team, club, or other group. The difference is what kind of harm resulted. Hazing generally involves situations where someone’s safety or well-being is put at risk during an initiation ritual.
Aggravated hazing involves something much more serious. This is hazing that causes bodily harm, sometimes even injuries that require hospital treatment or create serious health complications. What separates hazing from aggravated hazing is the severity of what happens to the person being hazed. Fear and humiliation are hazing. Aggravated hazing results in physical injuries, such as a concussion, alcohol poisoning, or long-term damage to someone’s health.
For example, imagine a college athlete is pushed to drink an unsafe amount of liquor and ends up in the emergency room. That physical danger and resulting harm make it aggravated hazing. In other words, the outcome matters most.
Understanding the distinction between hazing and aggravated hazing can help you appreciate why these cases are taken seriously – and why experienced legal guidance is so important if you are dealing with a hazing-related accusation.
New Jersey Laws on Hazing
New Jersey’s anti-hazing law was amended in 2021 to enhance penalties and expand who can be held responsible. The updated law also requires middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities to adopt anti-hazing policies with penalties for any violations. The law was named Piazza’s Law for Timothy Piazza, a 19-year-old Penn State University student who died after a 2017 hazing ritual. Prosecutors in New Jersey take hazing seriously, and you can be charged even if the alleged victim agreed to participate.
Under the statute, a person is guilty of hazing if they are initiating applicants or members of a student or fraternal organization and they knowingly or recklessly do any of the following:
- Cause or convince someone to break the law
- Cause or convince someone to consume food, liquids, alcohol, drugs, or other substances that put them at risk of emotional or physical harm or are harmful to their health
- Subject someone to physical abuse, mistreatment, harassment, or degradation, including whipping, beating, branding, excessive exercise, or exposure to extreme weather
- Subject someone to emotional or mental abuse, mistreatment, harassment, or degradation, including sleep deprivation, isolation, or other conduct that could cause extreme embarrassment or affect their mental or emotional health
- Subject someone to sexual abuse, mistreatment, harassment, or degradation
- Require someone to participate in any other activity that is reasonably likely to cause bodily injury
Hazing is typically considered a disorderly persons offense. However, the law also distinguishes between simple and aggravated hazing. Aggravated hazing results in death or bodily injury. Hazing that causes bodily injury is a fourth-degree crime. Hazing that results in serious bodily injury or death is charged as a third-degree crime.
Beyond individual liability, the 2021 amendments also allow prosecutors to hold the sponsoring student, fraternal, or educational organization financially responsible. An organization that knowingly or recklessly promotes or facilitates hazing can face fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 for a first offense. They can be fined $5,000 to $15,000 for subsequent offenses.
By broadening the scope of the law and creating harsher consequences for aggravated hazing, New Jersey lawmakers have made their position clear. Hazing is against the law, consent is never a defense, and anyone who participates can face serious legal repercussions. An experienced criminal defense lawyer can help you understand what you’re up against and work to craft an effective defense strategy to protect your rights.
Factors Considered in a Hazing Complaint
When law enforcement and prosecutors review a hazing complaint, they look at the specific conduct leading to the accusations. They will analyze what actually happened, who was involved, and what injuries (if any) resulted. Prosecutors will also review any pressure or coercion used during hazing and what role you played in the situation. Someone who planned or led the hazing may face more serious consequences than someone who was simply present or had a minor role.
Every hazing case is different. Investigators must sort through witness statements, pictures or video footage, text messages, and any other relevant evidence. An experienced criminal defense attorney can help present mitigating evidence to support a favorable outcome. For example, there may be proof that there was no risk of harm, that someone was misidentified as a participant, or that they tried to stop the hazing once it began. By putting these facts into context, your defense lawyer can help make sure your side of the story is heard.
Consequences for Hazing in New Jersey
Penalties for a hazing conviction depend on what happened and whether there were any injuries or deaths involved. Prosecutors can charge hazing as a disorderly persons offense or a felony-level crime.
Punishments include:
- Disorderly persons offense – Up to 6 months in jail and $1,000 in fines
- Fourth-degree aggravated hazing – Up to 18 months in state prison and $10,000 in fines
- Third-degree aggravated hazing – 3 to 5 years in prison and fines up to $15,000
A criminal conviction can affect more than your immediate freedom and finances. Schools often impose their own discipline, which may result in suspension or expulsion. Plus, the conviction will become part of your permanent record. The damage to your reputation can impact future educational or career prospects.
Civil liability is also possible. If someone was hurt during a hazing ritual, they or their family may file a lawsuit for compensation.
Defenses to Hazing Charges
Facing a hazing charge can be daunting, but there are ways to challenge the prosecution’s case. One important defense is a lack of intent. Prosecutors must prove that you knowingly or recklessly engaged in hazing. If there was no danger of harm or you weren’t aware of the risk, this could be a valid defense.
The prosecution must also prove that your actions constituted hazing. For instance, you may not be guilty of hazing if your attorney can prove that the acts were part of a reasonable and routine athletic training session. Or your lawyer may argue that the alleged hazing wasn’t connected to initiation into a student or fraternal organization.
Other common defenses include:
- Mistaken identity, where the accused was wrongly identified as a participant in the hazing
- Insufficient evidence, where the prosecution cannot prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt
- Constitutional violations, which can lead to suppressed evidence or reduced charges
The law also provides a special protection from prosecution when someone:
- Contacted the police, campus security, or emergency services to report that someone needed medical assistance due to hazing
- Provided their name (and the name of someone helping them, if applicable)
- Was the first to make the report
- Stayed on the scene with the person needing help until assistance arrived
- Cooperated with emergency services
Your criminal defense will thoroughly investigate the case by gathering witness statements, reviewing video or electronic evidence, and analyzing all available facts. Ultimately, they may be able to get the charges reduced or dismissed – or they may fight for acquittal at trial. In some cases, alternative sentencing options can help keep you out of jail.
Get Legal Help from Our New Jersey Criminal Defense Attorneys
If you’re facing hazing charges, it’s essential to act quickly. The legal team at the Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall offers over 200 years of combined experience defending clients against hazing and other criminal accusations. We have a long history of success – as one satisfied client said, “[T]he police officer was just going to nail me no matter what. Jonathan made sure that I got a fair shake in court.”
Contact us today for a free consultation to learn more.
