Hazing Now a Felony in Florida

Associated Press
June 7, 2005

Gov. Bush signs law making dangerous hazing a crime

MIAMI -- Gov. Jeb Bush signed the Chad Meredith Act on Tuesday, making dangerous hazing a crime in Florida, his spokesman said. The bill, named for a University of Miami freshman who drowned in a campus lake while trying to join a fraternity in 2001, makes hazing that results in serious injury or death a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, even if the victim consents. Putting someone at risk of injury can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor.

Meredith's family and the bill's sponsors attended the private signing.Until now, punishment for hazing in the state was handled by schools and fraternities. Florida is now one of eight states that makes some types of hazing a felony. Two Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers swimming with Meredith, 18, denied he was pressured into the stunt. His parents received a $12.6 millionaward in a civil case.

(c) 2005 The Associated Press.

Note that you can be charged with the crime even if the victim provides consent beforehand. So much for the "he didn't have to do it" defense. Some people may say that this is overlegislation and that battery, manslaughter, murder charges simply need to be enforced. They may also say that it improperly shifts responsbility for one's actions to third parties.

I, for one, am glad that Florida took some action to recognize and curb hazing and to plant some seeds in the head of potential "hazers". The pressure to be "cool", accepted (and the desire not to be seen as a "wimp") often does not allow someone to make a rational decision in these circumstances. Shifting the burden to the "hazer" in this situation is a novel step forward. Too bad that it almost always takes a death to make people stand up, take notice, and take action.