UCLA
Hazing Prevention and Response

Laws on Hazing

California State Law

Definition:

Per California Penal Code, Section 245.6b

"(b) 'Hazing' means any method of initiation or premonition into a student organization or student body whether or not the organization or body is officially recognized by an educational institution, which is likely to cause serious bodily injury to any former, current, or prospective student of any school, community college, college, university, or other educational institution in this state. The term 'hazing' does not include customary athletic events or school-sanctioned events."

Criminal Penalties for Hazing:

Per California Penal Code, Section 245.6(c-e)

"A violation of this section that does not result in serious bodily injury is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine or not less than one hundred dollars ($100), nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or both.

Any person who personally engages in hazing that results in death or serious bodily injury as defined in paragraph (4) of subdivision (f) of Section 243 of the Penal Code, is guilty of either a misdemeanor or a felony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in county jail not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.

The person against whom the hazing is directed may commence a civil action for injury or damages. The action may be brought against any participants in the hazing, or any organization to which the student is seeking membership whose agents, directors, trustees, managers, or officers authorized, requested, commanded, participated in, or ratified hazing."

Federal Anti-Hazing Law

Stop Campus Hazing Act (SCHA)

The Stop Campus Hazing Act (SCHA)(S.2901, H.R.5646), enacted on December 23, 2024, amends the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act to prioritize the prevention of and transparency about hazing incidents at colleges and universities. The federal anti-hazing law defines hazing as follows.

The term 'hazing', for purposes of reporting statistics on hazing incidents...means any intentional, knowing or reckless act committed by a person (whether individually or in concert with other persons) against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such person or persons to participate, that:

  • is committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with or the maintenance of membership in, a student organization; and
  • causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the institution of higher education or the organization (such as the physical preparation necessary for participation in an athletic team), of physical or psychological injury including-
    • whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone's body, or similar activity;
    • causing coercing, or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics, or other similar activity;
    • causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or other substances;
    • causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to perform sexual acts;
    • any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct;
    • any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law; and
    • any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law.

A student organization is defined as an organization at an institution of higher education (such as a club, society, association, varsity or junior varsity athletic team, club sports team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government) in which two or more of the members are students enrolled at the institution of higher education, whether or not the organization is established or recognized by the institution.